The Beatles- Hey Jude

Paul McCartney was on a long drive in his Aston Martin in July 1968 when he began singing the song that later became Hey Jude. He wrote this as “Hey Jules,” a song meant to comfort John Lennon’s 5-year-old son Julian as his parents got a divorce. The change to ‘Jude’ was inspired by the character ‘Jud’ in musical Oklahoma! one of McCartney favorite shows. However, there is another, more sinister, interpretation based on the fact that the German word for ‘jew’ is jude.

This was the Beatles longest single, running 7:11, and at the time was the longest song ever released as a single. However, it had been meant to go into usual fade at about 3 minutes like other songs. But something strange happened — Paul flew off with the word better, turning the ending into a magnificent extravaganza.

Hey Jude was recorded between July 31 and August 1, 1968, at Trident Studios, London, with a 36 piece orchestra whose members clapped and sang on the fadeout (for which they earned double rates). It was released on 30 August.

This song hit #1 in at least 12 countries and by the end of 1968 had sold more than 5 million copies. It eventually sold over 10 million copies in the United States, becoming the fourth-biggest selling Beatles single there.

John, unaware of how badly his divorce was affecting his son, and not realizing Paul had written this for Julian, actually believed that the line You were made to go out and get her was Paul imploring John to get Yoko Ono.