I woke up this morning knowing I wanted to post something by the Beatles. For whatever reason I put on “Hey Jude,” their 1968 9 week #1 smash hit. By this point, “Hey Jude” is rather rote and overplayed, but this morning, to me at least, the song sounded fresh. It’s kind of strange how people acknowledge that this might be the Beatles best song, but not necessarily Paul McCartney’s. Lets get the record strait then, this is Paul McCartney’s best song, and thus, his best with the Beatles. It’s the song where Paul threw in all the best elements of his songwriting magic into one special brew. It’s sentimental without being corny. The sweet romantic voice he uses in the beginning somehow gets revved up into his patented high register rock growl. The song begins as a slow thoughtful ballad that transforms into an absolutely epic rocking gospel by its end. Most importantly, it’s a song all the Beatles could get behind. It was made during the “White Album,” the time when Ringo briefly quit, John quit in his head for Yoko, and where they all hated Paul. The song was awkwardly about John’s divorce from his ex-wife Cynthia, and the son John was abandoning, and John had NOTHING to do with its creation. Still, despite all this, the song was so good, the Beatles all rallied around it, giving the world something truly wonderful, their longest single, and their best. The idea that this group could put out a song as powerful and legendary as sort of an extra cupcake to their double album release, while they could barely stand each other, is something impossible to complicate. It’s the kind of thing that makes me believe what miracles all Beatles songs are, and I hope you enjoy it.
