Hey Jude

"Hey Jude" came out in August 1968 as a standalone single, the Beatles' first on their own Apple label. Paul McCartney wrote it, with the usual Lennon–McCartney credit, and it helped launch Apple to the public as one of the label's initial four releases.

Commercial performance

The song hit number one across the globe, becoming the top-selling single of 1968 in the UK, US, Australia, and Canada. Its nine-week stay atop the Billboard Hot 100 tied the then-record for the longest run at number one, a mark it held for nine years. With roughly eight million copies sold, critics often rank it among the greatest songs ever.

The track was born during a turbulent time for the band. McCartney originally called it "Hey Jules," written to comfort Julian Lennon after his father John left Julian's mother Cynthia for Yoko Ono. The lyrics encourage a positive spin on a tough situation, urging "Jude" to seize chances for love. After the fourth verse, a four-minute-plus coda kicks in with a "Na-na-na na" refrain.

It was the first Beatles song recorded on eight-track equipment, cut at Trident Studios in central London while they were working on the White Album. The sessions sparked a fight between McCartney and George Harrison over the guitar part. Ringo Starr briefly quit the band, returning just before they shot the promotional clip directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, which first aired on David Frost's UK show Frost on Sunday. Despite the band's internal strife, the clip captured the song's optimism by having the studio audience join in on the coda.

At over seven minutes, "Hey Jude" was the longest single to top the UK charts at the time. Its arrangement and extended coda inspired many imitations into the early 1970s.

In 2013, Billboard named it the 10th "biggest" song ever by chart performance. McCartney has kept performing it live since Lennon's 1980 murder, leading crowds through the coda. Both Julian Lennon and McCartney have bought memorabilia tied to the song's creation.

Inspiration and writing

McCartney wrote the song in May 1968, driving to visit five-year-old Julian at the family home in Weybridge after John and Cynthia separated. Cynthia recalled McCartney's surprise visit, noting he composed "Hey Jude" in the car. He changed the title from "Hey Jules" because "Jude" sounded better.