Hey Jude

McCartney wrote it and the credit went to Lennon-McCartney. It began as "Hey Jules", a song to comfort Julian Lennon after his parents split. McCartney said he knew it was not going to be easy for the boy. Lennon called it one of McCartney's masterpieces.

The group rehearsed it on 29 and 30 July 1968 at EMI, about 25 takes in all, and cut the master on 31 July at Trident, their first song on eight-track. A 36-piece orchestra was added on 1 August. McCartney sang and played piano and bass, Lennon and Harrison sang backing vocals, Lennon on acoustic guitar and Harrison on electric, and Starr played drums and tambourine. It came out on 26 August in the United States and 30 August in Britain, with "Revolution" on the other side.

After

It was two weeks at number one in Britain and the longest single to top the chart up to then, at over seven minutes. In the United States it led for nine weeks from 28 September 1968 and was the year's top Billboard single, with about 8 million sold worldwide. Michael Lindsay-Hogg shot the promotional film on 4 September at Twickenham. Wilson Pickett covered it in 1968 with Duane Allman on guitar, and Elvis Presley recorded it in 1969. McCartney has played it live since 1989 and 1990, including the Super Bowl halftime in 2005 and the opening of the 2012 London Olympics.