Questions about "Hey Jude"
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I have heard my whole life that "Hey Jude" is Paul speaking to young Julian Lennon when his parents Cynthia and John were getting divorced and John was involved with Yoko. I was reading about the song on Wikipedia and it says the following: Although McCartney originally wrote the song for Julian Lennon, John Lennon thought it had actually been written for him: But I always heard it as a song to me. If you think about it ... Yoko's just come into the picture. He's saying. 'Hey, Jude?Hey, John.' I know I'm sounding like one of those fans who reads things into it, but you can hear it as a song to me ... Subconsciously, he was saying, Go ahead, leave me. On a conscious level, he didn't want me to go ahead. Other people believed McCartney wrote the song about them, including Judith Simons, a journalist with the Daily Express.[9] Still others, including John Lennon, have speculated that McCartney's failing long-term relationship with Jane Asher when he wrote "Hey Jude" was an unconscious "message to himself."[10] In fact, when Lennon mentioned that he thought the song was about him, McCartney denied it and told Lennon he had written the song about himself.[11] Writer Mark Hertsgaard noted "many of the song's lyrics do seem directed more at a grown man on the verge of a powerful new love, especially the lines 'you have found her now go and get her' and 'you're waiting for someone to perform with.'"[11] Tim Riley wrote, "If the song is about self-worth and self-consolation in the face of hardship, the vocal performance itself conveys much of the journey. He begins by singing to comfort someone else, finds himself weighing his own feelings in the process, and finally, in the repeated refrains that nurture his own approbation, he comes to believe in himself."[/i] So did Paul start out writing the song to Julian but then somehow incorporate how he himself felt about John leaving to go to Yoko? If it's just about Julian, then what do the words "You have found her, now go and get her" and "you're waiting for someone to perform with" mean? Why did Paul tell John that he had written the song about himself at one point? Julian said he didn't know the song was for him until twenty years went by. Was Paul trying to play down the fact that he had had a close relationship with young Julian...maybe closer than John had had with him? I'm a little confused with this one. There seem to be several real life factors playing into it. As I've said elsewhere, this is just about my all-time favorite Beatles song...(although I do love the harmonies of "If I Fell"). I did not know that there had been so much trouble in the recording of this song. Once again, Wikipedia offers this: According to Norman Sheffield, there was a lot of dissention to start with. "Some of the musicians were looking down their noses at the Beatles, I think. Paul picked up on this and confronted them straight away: 'Do you guys want to get $@&%ing paid or not?' he said. That concentrated their minds pretty well...they soon fell into line." During the first few takes, McCartney was unhappy with the energy and passion the orchestra was putting into it. So he stood up on the grand piano and started conducting the orchestra from there. While adding backing vocals, the Beatles asked the orchestra members if they would clap their hands and sing along to the refrain in the song's coda. Most complied (for a double fee), but one declined, reportedly saying, "I'm not going to clap my hands and sing Paul McCartney's $%#@&% song!" I would love to have seen Paul conducting that orchestra! Is this song one of your favorites?
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My understanding is that Paul originally started speaking to Julian in the song, then switched to talking to himself (about Linda) No way was he talking to John about Yoko. I used to love this song when I was 13 and it first came out, but now I'm so sick of it, I wish he'd drop it from his setlist!
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I would like to have seen Paul conducting the orchestra as well.
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Nancy R:
My understanding is that Paul originally started speaking to Julian in the song, then switched to talking to himself (about Linda) No way was he talking to John about Yoko. I used to love this song when I was 13 and it first came out, but now I'm so sick of it, I wish he'd drop it from his setlist!
I was wondering if yours would be a common feeling among longtime Beatles fans, Nancy...that "Hey Jude" been played so much and adored by the masses that it's just gotten to be over-saturation at this point. I haven't tired of the song myself but after going on this Beatles song odyssey these last few months I am seeing my musical interest go to songs of theirs that I had not paid much attention to before. It's a joyful journey.
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Scarlett14:
Nancy R:
My understanding is that Paul originally started speaking to Julian in the song, then switched to talking to himself (about Linda) No way was he talking to John about Yoko. I used to love this song when I was 13 and it first came out, but now I'm so sick of it, I wish he'd drop it from his setlist!
I was wondering if yours would be a common feeling among longtime Beatles fans, Nancy...that "Hey Jude" been played so much and adored by the masses that it's just gotten to be over-saturation at this point. I haven't tired of the song myself but after going on this Beatles song odyssey these last few months I am seeing my musical interest go to songs of theirs that I had not paid much attention to before. It's a joyful journey.
Paul needs to start playing more John-Beatle songs in concert. He did Mr. Kite last tour which was a horrible choice, imo. A garbage song. For example, why doesnt Paul play In My Life? He even said he wrote the melody for it. Ticket to Ride is another 1 that Paul played lead guitar on. He needs to mix it up, especially the Beatle songs. Hey Jude has lost some of its magic since its been so overplayed.
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I had never realized just how long "Hey Jude" was on the top of the US charts. Per Wikipedia: "It also spent nine weeks at number one in the United States?the longest run at the top of the American charts for a Beatles single?and tied the record for longest stay at number one until the record was broken by Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life"." I met Debby Boone once on a beach in Atlantic City, NJ in the very early 70's. She and her entire family were sitting on a blanket next to ours - their family was appearing at Steel Pier that week. This has absolutely nothing to do with Paul McCartney or The Beatles really. Just wanted to say I met Debby Boone. These are the kind of encounters I have had in my life. As nice as Debby was, why couldn't it have been Paul McCartney or one of the other Beatles next to me on the beach?
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Scarlett, I still adore this song. This one and "If I Fell", which you also mentioned, are way at the top of my list. Yes, I'm tired of the way he does it in concert, but the recording always fills me with warmth and general good feelings. I think it was the song that single-handedly took me from childhood into adolescence, in a way. It's serious, yet joyful. It's reassuring and cathartic. What more could you want in a song?
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JoeySmith:
Scarlett14:
Nancy R:
My understanding is that Paul originally started speaking to Julian in the song, then switched to talking to himself (about Linda) No way was he talking to John about Yoko. I used to love this song when I was 13 and it first came out, but now I'm so sick of it, I wish he'd drop it from his setlist!
I was wondering if yours would be a common feeling among longtime Beatles fans, Nancy...that "Hey Jude" been played so much and adored by the masses that it's just gotten to be over-saturation at this point. I haven't tired of the song myself but after going on this Beatles song odyssey these last few months I am seeing my musical interest go to songs of theirs that I had not paid much attention to before. It's a joyful journey.
Paul needs to start playing more John-Beatle songs in concert. He did Mr. Kite last tour which was a horrible choice, imo. A garbage song. For example, why doesnt Paul play In My Life? He even said he wrote the melody for it. Ticket to Ride is another 1 that Paul played lead guitar on. He needs to mix it up, especially the Beatle songs. Hey Jude has lost some of its magic since its been so overplayed.
PLEASE no more John songs. Paul has enough of his own solo material that he should be playing.
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I like to hear that you still adore this song, Fave. I posted a message on another thread when I first joined here saying that I still recall the very first moment I heard "Hey Jude". I was 12 years old and in 7th grade. A bunch of my classmates and I were walking home from school and we all had transistor radios up to our ears. All the way down the street all you could hear was the very loud sound of that song playing. The DJ, BossJock from WFIL, George Michael, had prefaced the playing of the song for the first time by saying that he believed this was going to be the next big hit by The Beatles but would it be because of it's over 7 minute length he asked? Would the public accept that or would it just be considered a gimmick? As the song played on and on we all started singing the Na-Na-Na part because it was so easy to sing along to even on the first encounter with it. The sky was blue, the weather was warm on that beautiful September day in 1968, I was with my friends, and all was right with the world in my mind. I don't know of any other song that I have so clear a memory about hearing for the very first time as this one.
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That is an incredibly beautiful memory...
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Please allow me to to play "Hey Jude" with you now so we can all close our eyes, relax and recapture the feeling of the first time we all heard this wonderful magic carpet ride of a song...
Was "Hey Jude" what made anyone here a Beatles fan? -
Scarlett14:
I like to hear that you still adore this song, Fave. I posted a message on another thread when I first joined here saying that I still recall the very first moment I heard "Hey Jude". I was 12 years old and in 7th grade. A bunch of my classmates and I were walking home from school and we all had transistor radios up to our ears. All the way down the street all you could hear was the very loud sound of that song playing. The DJ, BossJock from WFIL, George Michael, had prefaced the playing of the song for the first time by saying that he believed this was going to be the next big hit by The Beatles but would it be because of it's over 7 minute length he asked? Would the public accept that or would it just be considered a gimmick? As the song played on and on we all started singing the Na-Na-Na part because it was so easy to sing along to even on the first encounter with it. The sky was blue, the weather was warm on that beautiful September day in 1968, I was with my friends, and all was right with the world in my mind. I don't know of any other song that I have so clear a memory about hearing for the very first time as this one.
Lovely story, I hadn't seen that before. I'm familiar with WFIL, too, but only as it was fading in the seventies. I still have a pile of WFIL charts from the early-mid-seventies, when the solo Beatles stuff was constantly in the charts. My first exposure was about 1975, when my older brother and sister passed their 45's down to the younger kids. "Hey Jude" was massively influential on me.
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When I attended high school two years later that same Boss Jock (and others equally as well known as George was...Jim O'Brien, Doctor Don Rose, etc.) made an appearance at one of my high school assemblies which just meant the world to us teens. He also was the DJ for our Saturday night dances very often...same guy you'd hear on your radio every day playing Top 40 hits...it was the coolest thing for a 14 year old. There is nothing like this anymore, is there? It's sad really.
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Scarlett14:
Please allow me to to play "Hey Jude" with you now so we can all close our eyes, relax and recapture the feeling of the first time we all heard this wonderful magic carpet ride of a song...
Was "Hey Jude" what made anyone here a Beatles fan?I started listening to popular music about 5 years before the beatles became internationally popular... hey jude...only reaffirmed my belief in the good collective underlying theme... of the beatles...both 'collectively'... and as individuals
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JoeySmith:
Paul needs to start playing more John-Beatle songs in concert. He did Mr. Kite last tour which was a horrible choice, imo. A garbage song. For example, why doesnt Paul play In My Life? He even said he wrote the melody for it. Ticket to Ride is another 1 that Paul played lead guitar on. He needs to mix it up, especially the Beatle songs.
Mr. Kite is quite horrible a live track, I agree. But it seems like Paul's 2 favourite Beatles albums are "Revolver" and "Sgt. Pepper". As for Sgt. Pepper Paul has done most of the songs on the album live so far. A few years ago a regualr in the set-list was A Day In the Life. Newer set-lists also have Rita. Fixing a Hole and Getting Better have been done live before, too. With a Little Help was done with Ringo twice at least. Ticket To Ride is a perfect choice. Not only did Paul play lead guitar on the track, but he also co-wrote the song. There are many "Lennon" songs which were apparently co-written with Paul. Another example is "There's A Place" which is commonly regarded as a John song, but it was a collaboration. The same goes for "Wait", which I believe was mostly written by Paul. A perfect choice this specific year would be "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (also co-written by Paul) which perfectly marks Beatles' 50th anniversary in the USA.
