Hey Jude

Hey Jude is a song written by Paul McCartney for the band The Beatles, released as a single on August 26, 1968. The song was credited to the composer duo Lennon/McCartney, as was common in Beatles times, although it was almost entirely composed by Paul McCartney. Hey Jude is considered the band's most successful single, with around 7.5 million copies sold.

Background

McCartney originally wrote the song for John Lennon's then five-year-old son Julian. John Lennon had separated from his first wife Cynthia shortly before and Julian rarely saw his father. Accordingly, the title line initially read, in keeping with Julian's nickname, "Hey Jules, don't make it bad. Take a sad song and make it better". Only later did McCartney, to get around this obviousness, change the lyrics to "Hey Jude..."

The lyric line "The movement you need is on your shoulder" was originally intended by McCartney only as a preliminary lyric filler. It was only after John Lennon's encouragement that the line remained in the published version.

Harmonics

The song uses major cadence chords in the key of F in the verse. In the bridge, the subdominant parallel is added. In addition, the tone of the bass instrument, which is often not on the root of the respective triad, is a feature of the piece.

In the approximately four-minute coda at the end of the song, the non-conductoral lowered seventh degree in major is also used.