Paul McCartney: I happened to be driving out to see Cynthia Lennon. I thinkt it was just after John and she had broken up, and I was quite mates with Julian [their son]. He's a nice kid, Julian. And I was going out in me car just vaguely singing this song, and it was like "Hey Jules". I don't know why, "Hey Jules". It was just this thing, you know, "Don't make it bad/Take a sad song..." And then I just thought a better name was Jude. A bit more country and western for me.
Once you get analyzing something and looking into it, things do begin to appear and things do begin to tie in. Because EVERYTHING ties in, and what you get depends on your approach to it. You look at everything with a black attitude and it's all black.
John Lennon (in 1968) - "Well, when Paul first sang 'Hey Jude' to me... or played me the little tape he'd made of it... I took it very personally. 'Ah, it's me,' I said, 'It's me.' He says, 'No, it's me.' I said, 'Check. We're going through the same bit.' So we all are. Whoever is going through a bit with us is going through it, that's the groove."
John Lennon (in 1972) - "That's his best song."
Paul McCartney (in 1974) - "I remember I played it to John and Yoko, and I was saying, 'These words won't be on the finished version.' Some of the words were: 'The movement you need is on your shoulder,' and John was saying, 'It's great!' I'm saying, 'It's crazy, it doesn't make any sense at all.' He's saying, 'Sure it does, it's great.'"
John Lennon (in 1980) - "He said it was written about Julian. He knew I was splitting with Cyn and leaving Julian then. He was driving to see Julian to say hello. He had been like an uncle. And he came up with 'Hey Jude.' But I always heard it as a song to me. Now I'm sounding like one of those fans reading things into it... Think about it: Yoko had just come into the picture. He is saying. 'Hey, Jude'-- 'Hey, John.' Subconsciously, he was saying, 'Go ahead, leave me.' On a conscious level, he didn't want me to go ahead. The angel in him was saying, 'Bless you.' The devil in him didn't like it at all, because he didn't want to lose his partner."
