Post by erik on Jun 12, 2021 17:33:35 GMT -5
The all-time biggest hit for the Beatles, written at a very parlous time for its main creative pair, is in this week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight.
HEY JUDE (The Beatles; Apple; 1968)—The death of long-time manager Brian Epstein via an overdose on August 27, 1967 left his most important clients, the Beatles, practically rudderless, save for their brilliant producer George Martin. Their 1967 BBC-TV film Magical Mystery Tour flopped with fans and critics (their first such one), though the soundtrack album went to #1 on the Billboard Top 200 in January 1968. As 1968 wore on, however, fissures in the group started opening up, most especially between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. During this time, Lennon got into the process of divorcing his wife Cynthia, who was practically thrown overboard by Japanese-born artist Yoko Ono, whom he met in 1966. But while Lennon’s and Ono’s relationship was becoming a big thing, it left him an absent father to the son that he and Cynthia were still in the process of raising, namely Julian. McCartney, realizing that Julian needed comforting as his young life was for all purposes starting to come apart at the seams, composed a song especially for the younger Lennon. Originally, it was called “Hey Jules”, but he later changed it to “Hey Jude”. While it was not exactly unheard-of for the Beatles’ two principal songwriters and leaders to write songs individually, most of their biggest hits were jointly credited. “Hey Jude”, however, was completely McCartney’s because the tension between him and Lennon was becoming increasingly acrimonious in terms of songwriting creativity, and the fact that he had a nearly instant antipathy for Ono. All the same, all four Beatles managed to get this song down in the studio, specifically Trident Studios in London, on July 31st and August 1st, 1968. What might have been a fairly typical three-and-a-half minute song, however, somehow managed to escalate into a seven minute-plus anthem of pop music history. And even more incredibly, both AM and FM radio stations in the United States played the entirety of “Hey Jude” due to overwhelming popular demand. “Hey Jude” went to #1 in England for four weeks at the end of the summer of 1968, but it was even more successful in America, staying atop the Billboard Hot 100 for an incredible nine weeks in the fall. The single’s B-side, Lennon’s incendiary ”Revolution”, managed to reach a highly respectable #12 on the Hot 100 during that time. For the rest of 1968 and on into 1969, however, aside from the famous rooftop concert atop Abbey Road Studios in January 1969, the tensions between Lennon and McCartney became progressively worse, leading to the group’s split in April 1970, and an estrangement between Lennon and McCartney that did not end completely until shortly before Lennon was killed in December 1980.
HEY JUDE (The Beatles; Apple; 1968)—The death of long-time manager Brian Epstein via an overdose on August 27, 1967 left his most important clients, the Beatles, practically rudderless, save for their brilliant producer George Martin. Their 1967 BBC-TV film Magical Mystery Tour flopped with fans and critics (their first such one), though the soundtrack album went to #1 on the Billboard Top 200 in January 1968. As 1968 wore on, however, fissures in the group started opening up, most especially between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. During this time, Lennon got into the process of divorcing his wife Cynthia, who was practically thrown overboard by Japanese-born artist Yoko Ono, whom he met in 1966. But while Lennon’s and Ono’s relationship was becoming a big thing, it left him an absent father to the son that he and Cynthia were still in the process of raising, namely Julian. McCartney, realizing that Julian needed comforting as his young life was for all purposes starting to come apart at the seams, composed a song especially for the younger Lennon. Originally, it was called “Hey Jules”, but he later changed it to “Hey Jude”. While it was not exactly unheard-of for the Beatles’ two principal songwriters and leaders to write songs individually, most of their biggest hits were jointly credited. “Hey Jude”, however, was completely McCartney’s because the tension between him and Lennon was becoming increasingly acrimonious in terms of songwriting creativity, and the fact that he had a nearly instant antipathy for Ono. All the same, all four Beatles managed to get this song down in the studio, specifically Trident Studios in London, on July 31st and August 1st, 1968. What might have been a fairly typical three-and-a-half minute song, however, somehow managed to escalate into a seven minute-plus anthem of pop music history. And even more incredibly, both AM and FM radio stations in the United States played the entirety of “Hey Jude” due to overwhelming popular demand. “Hey Jude” went to #1 in England for four weeks at the end of the summer of 1968, but it was even more successful in America, staying atop the Billboard Hot 100 for an incredible nine weeks in the fall. The single’s B-side, Lennon’s incendiary ”Revolution”, managed to reach a highly respectable #12 on the Hot 100 during that time. For the rest of 1968 and on into 1969, however, aside from the famous rooftop concert atop Abbey Road Studios in January 1969, the tensions between Lennon and McCartney became progressively worse, leading to the group’s split in April 1970, and an estrangement between Lennon and McCartney that did not end completely until shortly before Lennon was killed in December 1980.