Paul McCartney Was ‘Worried Stiff’ When He Released ‘Hey Jude’ Because He Wasn’t Sure It Was Good
One of Paul McCartney’s most enduring songs is “Hey Jude,” but he was never convinced that would be the case. McCartney wrote the song shortly after John Lennon’s divorce from his wife, Cynthia Lennon. He ultimately came to think fondly of the song, but he did not always feel this way. McCartney admitted he was quite nervous to release “Hey Jude” because he wasn’t sure it was good.
Paul McCartney said he worried about how people would react to ‘Hey Jude’
In 1970, The Beatles had recently split up, and McCartney prepared to release his first solo album, McCartney. A journalist for Rolling Stone asked the bassist if the new album would have any ballads that were as strong as “Let It Be” or “Hey Jude.”
“Yeah, I think so,” he responded. “I can never tell.”
McCartney explained that he had difficulty discerning which of his songs were good. “Hey Jude,” for example, made him nervous because he couldn’t tell if it was strong or not.
“I was worried stiff when ‘Hey Jude’ came out just in case it wasn’t any good,” he explained. “I wasn’t sure if it was any good. I can never tell. But I know that on this record there are some great tracks.”
Paul McCartney shared where he got the inspiration for ‘Hey Jude’
McCartney began working on “Hey Jude” in 1968, shortly after Lennon and Cynthia split up. He had a close relationship with Lennon’s son, Julian, and decided to go visit Cynthia and her son.
“I thought, as a friend of the family, I would motor out to Weybridge and tell them that everything was all right,” Paul said in The Beatles Anthology. “To try and cheer them up, basically, and see how they were.”
On the drive over, he began thinking of a song that might cheer up Julian.
“I started singing: ‘Hey Jules – don’t make it bad, take a sad song, and make it better,’” he said. “It was optimistic, a hopeful message for Julian: ‘Come on, man, your parents got divorced. I know you’re not happy, but you’ll be OK.’”
Eventually, he changed “Jules” to “Jude.”
George Harrison initially wasn’t a big fan of the song
McCartney began working on the song with George Harrison. They clashed over how it should sound.
“On ‘Hey Jude,’ when we first sat down and I sant ‘Hey Jude …’ George went nanu nanu on his guitar,” McCartney said. “I continued, ‘Don’t make it bad …’ and he replied nanu nanu. He was answering every line — and I said, ‘Whoa! Wait a minute now. I don’t think we want that. Maybe you’d come in with answering lines later. For now I think I should starting it simply first.’”
According to McCartney, Harrison didn’t appear to appreciate the direction in which he was taking the song.
“He was going, ‘OK, yeah. OK, fine, fine.’ But it was getting a bit like that,” McCartney said. “He wasn’t into what I was saying.”
