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TL;DR:

  • Marianne Faithfull said listening to The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” made her and The Rolling Stones feel smart.
  • She felt John Lennon and Yoko Ono almost died that night because of John’s LSD intake.
  • “Hey Jude” outperformed “I Want to Hold You Hand” in the United States.
A vinyl with black-and-white images of The Beatles from the "Hey Jude" era
A vinyl depicting The Beatles | Adam Berry / Stringer

Marianne Faithfull is a singer notable for her hit “As Tears Go By” and her relationship with The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger. She and some members of famous bands got high on LSD and heard The Beatles‘ “Hey Jude” before anyone else. Subsequently, she revealed what they thought of the song.

Paul McCartney showed The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude’ to high rock stars in a nightclub

In a 2007 article from The Guardian, Faithfull recalled going to a nightclub called Vesuvio with The Beatles, most members of The Rolling Stones, and a few members of The Who. “So there we all were, having a wonderful time, really high (the punch had been spiked with LSD), and in strolls Paul McCartney, a little smile on his lips, hands behind his back,” she recalled. “‘What have you got, Paul?’ we cried out.

“‘Oh, nothing, really,’ says he, and puts on ‘Hey Jude,'” Faithfull added. “It was the first time anyone had heard it and we were all blown away.”

Marianne Faithfull said The Beatles’ song made everyone in the room feel like geniuses

Faithfull recalled feeling great, not just about the song, but about her entire generation. “Vesuvio closed a couple of weeks later, but the feeling in the room that night was: aren’t we all the greatest bunch of young geniuses to grace the planet and isn’t this the most amazing time to be alive?” she remembered. “And I don’t think it was just the drugs.”

However, the evening almost ended in tragedy. “The evening ended with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, both legless, deciding to drive themselves in the psychedelic Rolls over to Ringo Starr’s flat,” she said. “They would have crashed and killed themselves.” Faithfull said nightclub owner Tony Sanchez stopped the couple from driving and got them a taxi. Faithfull felt John wasn’t a good driver, even without the LSD.

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The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude’: John Lennon Convinced Paul McCartney Not to ‘Fix’ a Line From the Song

How ‘Hey Jude’ performed on the charts compared to ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’

“Hey Jude” became a massive hit in the United States. The tune topped the Billboard Hot 100 for a total of nine weeks, making it the band’s longest-running No. 1 single. Their previous record was “I Want to Hold You Hand”‘s seven week stay at No. 1.

“Hey Jude” appeared on the compilation album of the same name, which was released in the United States but not the United Kingdom. The album Hey Jude includes a number of Beatles classic songs that had never been released on American studio alums, such as “Don’t Let Me Down,” “Rain,” and “Paperback Writer.” The compilation peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 36 weeks.

“Hey Jude” is an all-time classic and Faithfull could tell it was great before its release.

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