Hey Jude - What was it really about?

[Darth_Kitten]

A song written by Paul McCartney for Julian Lennon or something about heroin use?

Just curious. Thing was, why did a little kid like Julian had to change to accept John and Yoko? He was just a little boy. :(

[datasuspect]

1. sex, love, or self-pollution

[Heddi]

2. I heard Julian Lennon say

that it was about him and that the point of the song was to basically be the adult of the situation because his father and step-mother obviously weren't going to be.

He was treated awfully by John Lennon and was left a paltry amount when his father died, the sheer bulk of it going to Yoko and Sean. John felt that Yoko was his true soul mate and therefore Sean was the better of the two children (I've heard this through friends in many interviews in books, tv's etc).

When John Lennon died, Julian really wasn't even allowed to have any of his father's possessions. Yoko saw him as a part of John's "Worthless" past and felt that Sean was John's true son, not Julian.

As much as I like and admire John Lennon, and the anti-war stance of Yoko, I find their treatment of Julian to be atrocious and not very "peaceful" at all.

[Darth_Kitten]

4. That's pretty disgusting........

you don't throw away children. :(

[Frank Cannon]

5. I've heard pretty much the same story, from many sources

John and Yoko's treatment of Julian Lennon is pretty much the gold standard for post-divorce parental asshattery.

[DS1]

6. and that's precisely why, despite DUers wanting to suck up to her

for her whining ramblings, she's a talentless asshole, and always will be.

[last_texas_dem]

3. I think that it was partly written for Julian, but maybe not all of it

I remember reading an interview with Paul in which he said that he had started writing the words whenever he was going to visit Julian not long after John and Cynthia were splitting up, and on the way there he came up with the beginning lines as, "Hey Jules, Don't make it bad, Take a sad song and make it better." But I got the impression that quite a bit of it was changed around (including changing the guy's name from "Jules" to "Jude") for the sake of recording it as a Beatles song, so stuff like "You were made to go out and get her" may not really fit with the song Paul was originally putting together.

Also, I remember some interview with John where he claimed that the "go out and get her" line was actually Paul talking to him, telling him to go out and get Yoko, but I'm not so sure I'd agree with that one!

I've never heard the heroin thing, though. I've heard it about "Fixing a Hole" and the "Henry the Horse" part in "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" but not about "Hey Jude." The only Beatles (sort of) song that I *know* is about heroin is John's "Cold Turkey", about trying to quit heroin.

[pitohui]

7. back in the day all the tweens on the school bus were convinced it was about heroin EOM

m

[Darth_Kitten]

8. that's what one of my junior high teachers said it was about.

he was a flower child from the 60's. :rofl: seriously.

[Ivan Sputnik]

9. John thought it was about him

and Yoko, and that's really the only way the lyrics make sense (to me), unless you want to think of it as a song addressed to "everyone" that just uses "Jude" as a cool-sounding name to personalize it -- which isn't a bad interpretation, either. It started out as a song to Julian, though, says Paul.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

10. I always thought it was to Julian -- could be about

skin-popping the H...

Hey jude, dont make it bad.
Take a sad song and make it better.
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.

Hey jude, dont be afraid.
You were made to go out and get her.
The minute you let her under your skin,
Then you begin to make it better.

And anytime you feel the pain, hey jude, refrain,
Dont carry the world upon your shoulders.
For well you know that its a fool who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder.

Hey jude, dont let me down.
You have found her, now go and get her.
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.

So let it out and let it in, hey jude, begin,
Youre waiting for someone to perform with.
And dont you know that its just you, hey jude, youll do,
The movement you need is on your shoulder.

Hey jude, dont make it bad.
Take a sad song and make it better.
Remember to let her under your skin,
Then youll begin to make it
Better better better better better better, oh.

Na na na na na ,na na na, hey jude...

[Deja Q]

11. Oh, it's all about Yoko. Always is...

Hey Jude, don't make it bad.
Take a sad song and make it better.
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.

Hey Jude, don't be afraid.
You were made to go out and get her.
The minute you let her under your skin,
Then you begin to make it better.

And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain,
Don't carry the world upon your shoulders.
For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder.

Hey Jude, don't let me down.
You have found her, now go and get her.
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.

So let it out and let it in, hey Jude, begin,
You're waiting for someone to perform with.
And don't you know that it's just you, hey Jude, you'll do,
The movement you need is on your shoulder.

Hey Jude, don't make it bad.
Take a sad song and make it better.
Remember to let her under your skin,
Then you'll begin to make it
Better better better better better better, oh.

Naaa na na nananana, nanananaaa hey Jude... (repeat ad nauseum)

[orleans]

12. from wiki:

After Lennon and his wife Cynthia Powell separated due to Lennon's affair with Yoko Ono, McCartney drove out to see Powell and Julian, her son with Lennon. "We'd been very good friends for millions of years and I thought it was a bit much for them suddenly to be persona non gratae and out of my life," McCartney said.<2> Later, Powell recalled, "I was truly surprised when, one afternoon, Paul arrived on his own. I was touched by his obvious concern for our welfare.... On the journey down he composed 'Hey Jude' in the car. I will never forget Paul's gesture of care and concern in coming to see us."<3>

The song's original title was "Hey Jules", and it was intended to comfort Julian Lennon from the stress of his parents' divorce. McCartney said, "I started with the idea 'Hey Jules', which was Julian, don't make it bad, take a sad song and make it better. Hey, try and deal with this terrible thing. I knew it was not going to be easy for him. I always feel sorry for kids in divorces ... I had the idea by the time I got there. I changed it to 'Jude' because I thought that sounded a bit better."<2> Julian Lennon discovered the song had been written for him almost twenty years later. He remembered being closer to McCartney than to his father: "Paul and I used to hang about quite a bit—more than Dad and I did. We had a great friendship going and there seems to be far more pictures of me and Paul playing together at that age than there are pictures of me and my dad."<4>

Although McCartney originally wrote the song for Julian Lennon, John Lennon thought it had actually been written for him:<5>

“ But I always heard it as a song to me. If you think about it... Yoko's just come into the picture. He's saying. 'Hey, Jude—Hey, John.' I know I'm sounding like one of those fans who reads things into it, but you can hear it as a song to me ... Subconsciously, he was saying, Go ahead, leave me. On a conscious level, he didn't want me to go ahead. ”

Other people believed McCartney wrote the song about them, including Judith Simons, a journalist with the Daily Express.<6> Still others, including Lennon, have speculated that McCartney's failing long-term relationship with Jane Asher when he wrote "Hey Jude" was an unconscious "message to himself".<7> In fact, when Lennon mentioned that he thought the song was about him, McCartney denied it, and told Lennon he had written the song about himself.<8>

McCartney changed the title to "Hey Jude" because the name Jude was easier to sing.<4> Much as he did with "Yesterday", McCartney played the song for other musicians and friends. Ron Griffith of Badfinger, the first band to join the Beatles-owned record label Apple Records, recalled that on their first day in the studio, "Paul walked over to the grand piano and said, 'Hey lads, have a listen', and he sat down and gave us a full concert rendition of 'Hey Jude'. We were gobsmacked.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_Jude

[greenbriar]

13. it was written as a comfort to Julian about YOKO

and accepting that daddy was leaving mommie for Yoko and that life would be okay