On this day (September 28) in 1968, the Beatles reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Hey Jude.” The song spent nine consecutive weeks at No. 1, giving the Fab Four their longest-running chart-topper. It also tied the record for longest-running No. 1 single.
While “Hey Jude” is credited to the Lennon-McCartney partnership, John Lennon had no part in writing the lyrics. Instead, Paul McCartney wrote the song to comfort Julian Lennon while his parents were going through a divorce. Initially, the title phrase was “Hey Jules.” However, McCartney changed it before the band recorded the track.
Videos by American Songwriter
According to The Beatles Bible, Lennon claimed to have made no contributions to the hit’s lyrics. However, McCartney remembered differently. When he played the song for Lennon the first time, he got to the line “The movement you need is on your shoulder.” He said it was a filler and he planned to change it. “You won, you know,” Lennon replied. “That’s the best line in it!”
[RELATED: 4 Deep Cut Beatles Songs That Reference Other Beatles Songs]
“That’s collaboration,” McCartney said. “When someone’s that firm about a line that he said, ‘No, keep it in. So, of course, you love that line twice as much because it’s a little stray. It’s a little mutt that you were about to put down and it was reprieved and so it’s more beautiful than ever.”
Paul McCartney Wrote This Beatles Classic While Driving
In the summer of 1968, John and Cynthia Lennon were going through a divorce. As a result, Paul McCartney chose to pay her and their son, Julian, a visit. “I thought, as a friend of the family, I would motor out to Weybridge and tell them that everything was all right, to try and cheer them up, basically,” he recalled. “I had about an hour’s drive, and I would always turn the radio off and try to make up songs.”
Soon, McCartney began singing “Hey Jules, don’t make it bad. Take a sad song and make it better.”
The Beatles recorded “Hey Jude” over two days–July 31 and August 1–and released it on August 26.
Featured Image by Michael Webb/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
-
Meat Loaf on 01.12.1993 in München / Munich. (Photo by Fryderyk Gabowicz/picture alliance via Getty Images) -
Yucatan Peninsula – 1975: John Denver performing on the Calypso crew, appearing on the ABC tv special 'An Evening with John Denver'. (Photo by American Broadcasting Companies via Getty Images) -
Josh Graves, September 27, 1927 — September 30, 2006 (Photo courtesy of the Bluegrass Hall of Fame) -
NASHVILLE, TN – Debbie and Carrie Moore join David Frizzell on stage during the All-Star Whitey Shafer Benefit, Hosted By Moe Bandy at The Nashville Palace on March 18, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Webster PR) -
Portrait of musician Carlene Carter, Chicago, Illinois, November 17, 1990. (Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images) -
INDIO, CA – Singer Lynn Anderson performs onstage during day one of California's Stagecoach Country Music Festival held at the Empire Polo Club on April 25, 2009 in Indio, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) -
Musician Olivia Newton-John performs on the "Hollywood Nights" TV special in March 1980 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ron Eisenberg/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
