Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

The Vinyl Word: Hey Jude

Bay of Plenty Times
12 Sep, 2018 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The Beatles. Photo/file

The Beatles. Photo/file

Beatles' hit Hey Jude is now 50 years old.

If the legendary music producer Sir George Martin had his way, the Beatles' most successful hit single would never had been released, at least as a single.

When Paul McCartney first played the song to George Martin it was over seven minutes in duration. Martin said radio stations wouldn't play it as it was too long.

John Lennon's reply to that: "They will if it's us."

And sure, enough they did.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Hey Jude became the band's most successful single. It topped the charts around the world, staying at No 1 in the US for nine weeks and selling over five million copies.

The song has just turned 50 years old. It was released on August 26, 1968 in the US and August 30 in the UK.

It was one of four singles issued simultaneously to launch Apple Records (the others being Mary Hopkin's Those Were the Days, Jackie Lomax's Sour Milk Sea and the Black Dyke Mills Band's Thingumybob).

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Hey Jude was written by Paul McCartney while driving to John Lennon's house to console John's 5-year-old son Julian over his parents' divorce. By the time he arrived at the Weybridge home of John and Cynthia he had composed the song, originally titled Hey Julian.

Not long after he changed the song's title to Hey Jude because, in Paul's words, that sounded a bit better.

There are a number of very unusual events surrounding the recording of Hey Jude.

When the recording of the song began in the Trident Studios in July, Ringo was missing.

Discover more

Entertainment

The Vinyl Word: classic albums turning 40 this year

30 Jan 03:00 PM

He had slipped out of the studio to go to the toilet. He returns with impeccable timing at the 50 second mark in the song and strikes up the drums.

Another fun fact about the song. Paul is playing on Trident Studio's Bechstein piano, which has to be one of the most famous pianos in rock and roll history. It was the same piano used by Freddie Mercury on Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.

It is also the one Elton John plays Levon on, and the one Rick Wakeman plays in David Bowie's Life on Mars.

Once the Beatles had completed their recording, they added a 36-piece orchestra along with some hand clapping and the tapes were then delivered to EMI's Abbey Road Studios for the final mix.

Although Hey Jude was nominated for the Grammy Awards of 1969, it failed to win a single award, but it did win the 1968 NME Readers' poll for single of the year and won the 1968 Ivor Novello Award.

Hey Jude, happy birthday!

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

live
Bay of Plenty Times

Up to 50 people evacuated from homes after wild weather, clean-up begins

11 Jul 08:08 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Powerful example': Mum overcomes addiction to build a life helping others

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

11 Jul 05:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Up to 50 people evacuated from homes after wild weather, clean-up begins
live

Up to 50 people evacuated from homes after wild weather, clean-up begins

11 Jul 08:08 PM

The North Island is expected to get off to a wet start this morning, with lingering rain.

'Powerful example': Mum overcomes addiction to build a life helping others

'Powerful example': Mum overcomes addiction to build a life helping others

11 Jul 06:00 PM
Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

Bay home crowd rallies behind netball's Magic

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Tearful hunter admits shooting and killing friend

Tearful hunter admits shooting and killing friend

11 Jul 05:00 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP