The Beatles: Hey Jude

SONG Hey Jude

WRITTEN BY John Lennon and Paul McCartney

PERFORMED BY The Beatles

APPEARS ON Hey Jude (1970); Past Masters, Vol. 2 (1988)

NOTE The 1970 Hey Jude album has not been released on CD. It is sometimes called The Beatles Again.

My family didn't watch The Smothers Brothers, so it must have been the parents of a friend who told me that The Beatles were about to be on television and did I want to see them? My musical consciousness at the time wasn't raised much past the level of junior high band, so I watched more out of curiosity than interest.

The next seven minutes changed my life.

There was Paul McCartney's face filling up the television screen with his voice singing something about taking a sad song and making it better. The lyrics didn't matter; I was hooked. So I began a musical exploration that has traveled through hundreds of concerts and thousands of albums of music from around the world.

The song, of course, was "Hey Jude." It represents Paul at his best -- genuine, heartfelt sentiments evoked by plain language ("remember" is the only word longer than two syllables) and an infectious melody bulwarked by the most famous chorus in pop music. He wrote "Hey Jude" for John Lennon's son to help Julian cope with his parents' divorce. (Typically, John, notably self-absorbed in a business rife with self-absorption, thought "Hey Jude" was about him.)

The avuncular tone of the lyrics evokes a beloved uncle giving life counsel to a favorite nephew. The advice is simple enough, but timeless nonetheless: There's no point in being unhappy, a perspective Julian was unlikely to hear from his father. This adds a gentle, poignant push to the opening lines "take a sad song and make it better," as if Paul wanted to ensure that Julian heard this from somebody.

From this context, Paul moves on to the preoccupation of every teenage boy: Girls. If you want the girl you like, don't be afraid "let her into your heart." Yes, girls can drive you crazy but if you want to "go out and get her" you have to "let her under your skin." It's scary but worth it ("you begin to make it better") because we all need ""someone to perform with."

Paul then restates the overall point, which is don't make the pain of life worse by carrying "the world on your shoulders" before repeating the first verse, thus summing up the song with the same lyrics that introduce it. The unifying chorus then begins and continues its healing for over three minutes, creating such a communal that one can feel it even when singing alone...

In the video below, if you can watch John and George harmonize without a tear coming to your eye, then your email address must be hopelesscase@heartofstone.com...

LYRICS
Hey Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better

Hey Jude, don't be afraid
You were made to go out and get her
The minute you let her under your skin
Then you begin to make it better

And any time you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain
Don't carry the world upon your shoulders
For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder
Na na na, na na, na na na na

Hey Jude, don't let me down
You have found her, now go and get her
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better

So let it out and let it in, hey Jude, begin
You're waiting for someone to perform with
And don't you know that it's just you? Hey Jude, you'll do
The movement you need is on your shoulder
Na na na, na na, na na na na, yeah

Hey Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better
Better, better, better, better, better, oh yeah!

Na na na, na-na na na
Na-na na na, hey Jude
Na na na, na-na na na
Na-na na na, hey Jude...