SEPTEMBER 28, 1965
Hey Jude, the 58th and most successful chart single by The Beatles, reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 – and it took just three weeks to get there.
The first release on the Beatles’ own Apple Records label (#2276) debuted at #10 on September 14th of 1968, climbed to #3 on the 21st of the month, and then knocked off the top song Harper Valley P.T.A. by Jeannie C. Riley on this date.
Following a 9-week domination at #1, it finally fell to Love Child by Diana Ross & The Supremes on November 30th.
Altogether, it spent 14 weeks in the Top 10 – and 19 total weeks inside the Top 40 – becoming Billboard’s ‘Song of the Year’ for 1968.
‘Hey Jude’ was recorded at Abbey Road Studios and Trident Studios in London between July 29th & August 2nd of ’68, and released less than one month later (August 26 in the North America and August 30 in the UK).
It achieved quadruple platinum status (4 million copies sold) and it’s listed at #8 on Rolling Stone magazine’s Top 500 Songs of All Time.
In 1980, John Lennon was quoted as saying to author David Sherif in his book All We Are Saying (The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko On0) –
“‘Hey Jude’ is a damn good set of lyrics and I made no contribution to that.”
Over the years, Paul McCartney has generally agreed with that assessment, but also has repeatedly credited his former songwriting partner with convincing him to retain a lyrical line in ‘Hey Jude’ that McCartney initially wanted to change – “The movement you need is on your shoulder.” – Lennon told him, “that’s the best line in it”, so it was left in.
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[Note] Some audio song files may not play on smartphones, tablets or connected devices. A laptop, desktop PC or Mac may be required for optimal enjoyment.
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HEY JUDE
The Beatles
(Mono Single Mix & Length)
[1968]
https://youtu.be/sruHFc6MbB0
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The song’s original title was Hey Jules; about Julien Lennon, John’s son with his wife Julia. Their marriage was dissolving, and McCartney empathized with ‘Jules’ and his plight from the upcoming ordeal. Before its recording, the title was changed to ‘Hey Jude’.
In The Beatles Anthology, McCartney said –
“I eventually changed ‘Jules’ to ‘Jude’. One of the characters in (the musical) Oklahoma is called ‘Jud’, and I like the name.”
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In 1987, during a chance meeting in New York, McCartney sat down with Julien to explain his motivation for the song. In a February 2002 interview with the UK music magazine, Mojo, Julien Lennon explained –
“He told me that he’d been thinking about my circumstances all those years ago, about what I was going through. Paul and I used to hang out a bit – more than dad and I did. We had a great friendship going and there seem to be far more pictures of me and Paul playing together at that age than there are pictures of me and dad.”
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Until the release of the LP The Beatles/1967–1970 (aka the ‘Blue Album’) in 1973, the only way to get stereo mixes of the single ‘Hey Jude’ and its B-side, Revolution, was by owning an album called Hey Jude!
‘Hey Jude!’ (below) was a compilation of previous Beatles hits; songs were selected that had not appeared on a Capitol Records album in the United States, and which spanned the group’s career.
The set wasn’t initially released in the UK, but was issued in The United States & Canada, Australia, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Spain and most of South America.
The stereo album version of ‘Hey Jude’ is a somewhat different audio mix, and with a 5-second shorter fade ending, clocking in at 7:06.
HEY JUDE
The Beatles
(Stereo Album Mix & Length)
[1968]
https://youtu.be/qkRyGkm-WL4
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REVOLUTION
The Beatles
(Mono 45 Mix)
[1968]
One could not just listen to ‘Hey Jude’ without flipping over the single to play the B-side … John Lennon’s Revolution climbed to #12 on Billboard.
https://youtu.be/HfDMQgp21ls
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DEEP TRAX!
The ‘Hey Jude!’ album was initially called The Beatles Again, but in order to capitalize on the huge success of the single, a last-minute decision was made to also name it ‘Hey Jude!’. However, a number of early pressings containing the original title did get released.
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On July 29th & 30th, 1968, 25 “rehearsal” versions of ‘Hey Jude’ were recorded at Abbey Road studios. The final version was completed at London’s Trident studios between July 31st and August 2nd of ’68.
From a bootleg CD I have called Back-Track: Part Two, here’s ‘Take 9’. Recorded on July 30th, it’s hardly a polished version, and sounds more like an informal jam session.
HEY JUDE.
The Beatles
(Alternate Version/Take 9)
[1968]
https://youtu.be/g8P2O3hEGeY
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When ‘Hey Jude’ was released, Capitol Records in Mexico still hadn’t reached a resolution of an issue with the Apple Records trademark, so the single in that country was initially pressed on the Capitol “swirl” label.
Photos courtesy of Bruce Spizer
(The Beatles’ Story on Capitol Records – Part One: Beatlemania & The Singles)
[e-Book Edition]
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[Note] I couldn’t resist including this song – first, it ties in with this presentation, and second, it’s a great record!
MacARTHUR PARK
Richard Harris
[1968]
At 7 minutes and 11 seconds, ‘Hey Jude’ became the second ultra-long hit record to successfully be pressed onto one side of a 45 rpm disc – the lengthiest to that point was MacArthur Park by Richard Harris. His recording, which preceded ‘Hey Jude’ by 6 months, exceeded it in length by 11 seconds, running for 7 minutes and 22 seconds.
The song’s writer, Jim Webb, initially offered it to The Association, but they turned it down.
https://youtu.be/uiViAhOq1nU
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15 months later, Don McLean’s classic American Pie was released and easily eclipsed both songs in length, clocking in at a whopping 8 minutes and 27 seconds.
However, the styluses of jukeboxes couldn’t properly track the narrowly-spaced grooves of the 45 rpm disc. And in the era of vinyl singles, the weekly quantity of their jukebox plays was important; along with the usual sales reports, Billboard, Cashbox, etc. included jukebox data in the mix to help determine a song’s weekly chart position. In turn, those rankings were critical to record companies and retailers.
So the record company, United Artists, decided to split the mammoth recording into two roughly equal-length halves – “Parts I & II” – fading down the audio at the end of the first half, then fading it back up to resume on the B-side.
But UA did manage to release the full version on one side of a 12-inch 45 rpm vinyl EP.
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Songs Source: The Music Vault of HouseoftheHits, Inc.
Billboard® Chart Data: Joel Whitburn’s Record Research (eBook Editions)
Record Sleeve & Label Graphics: Courtesy of 45cat
