The Beatles‘ “Hey Jude” is one of the most uplifting songs in the classic rock canon. Ironically, Paul McCartney said he upset George Harrison while they were completing the song. The “Silly Love Songs” singer regretted some of his actions. Regardless, the tune became a No. 1 single in multiple countries.
Paul McCartney didn’t like George Harrison’s guitar playing on The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude’
In the 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul discussed the contentious recording of “Hey Jude.” “I remember sitting down and showing George the song and George did the natural thing for a guitar player to do, which is to answer every line of vocal,” Paul recalled. “And it was like, ‘No, George.’
“And he was pretty offended, and looking back, I think, ‘Oh, s***, of course you’d be offended. You’re blowing the guy out,’” Paul continued. “I said, ‘No, no. You come in on the second chorus maybe, it’s going to be a big build this.’”
Paul McCartney didn’t want to act like the bossy ‘director’ of The Beatles
Paul related the recording of “Hey Jude” to the larger dynamic within The Beatles. “That’s the difficulty of a group,” he said. “You are not the director bossing around a dance company where they naturally expect you to boss them around. You’re just a guy in a very democratic unit; which a group, at best, is. We were all equal in voting, our status within the group was equal.”
The “Band on the Run” singer did, however, admit he was authoritarian sometimes. “We were joking when we made the Anthology: I was saying, ‘I realize I was a bossy git,’” he said. “And George said, ‘Oh no, Paul, you never did anything like that!’” Paul said George was being ironic when he made that comment.
How ‘Hey Jude’ performed on the pop charts and impacted wider popular culture
“Hey Jude” became a gigantic hit in the United States. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for nine of his 19 weeks on the chart. The tune appeared on the album 1. That album topped the Billboard 200 for eight of his 540 weeks on the chart.
The Official Charts Company says “Hey Jude” was No. 1 for two weeks in the United Kingdom, charting there for 19 weeks in total. It reached No. 52 in the 1980s. The album 1 was No. 1 in the U.K. for nine of its 444 weeks on that chart.
“Hey Jude” was also influential. It paved the way for other incredibly long rock ballads, including The Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” Don McLean’s “American Pie,” Meat Loaf’s “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That),” and even The Beatles’ own “Let It Be.” While musical tastes change all the time, “Hey Jude” is one of those universal, uplifting songs that might just last forever.
Paul upset George while they were crafting “Hey Jude” but the song went on to put smiles on millions of faces.
