大象传媒

Pete Fenelon, York
More a mantra than a song; hypnotic (possibly in a good way).

Robin Vann - Fillongley, Warwickshire
Yes. The other point about the root octave on 'song' is that this note is longer than those which precede it too. This trick of lengthening the highest note (or the near highest) in a strain is a favourite technique of McCartney's which can also be heard in 'Yesterday' amongst others.

Joanie Alford, North Carolina USA
I'll always remember getting this single. It was the first Apple 45rpm -- I was SO PROUD of The Boys for having their own label. And then hearing this song...I swear it had been a soundtrack to a lovely dream I'd once had. An song that has no genre...it's a song that will be as relevant 200 years from now as it is today -- nearly 40 years (gasp!) after it's release...love you, Boys....

Mary Haas/Lynbrook, NY
Hey Jude is my favorite song in the world! To me, it is the ultimate in expression, empathy, release, creative expression, and the best rock and roll song in the world ever created. I thank God for Paul; as he gives us gifts of music year after year. Finally, he is mostly receiving the praise and respect, and dignity he deserves by the press. I find there is a great deal of jealousy because there is nobody who can even come close to him, and to the love people have for him. I wish when I held his hand when the window opened from his limo that I could have told him what my favorite song means to me. It held for me a very special meaning while going through a very difficult life. It and his music virtually kept me going. To this day, it keeps my spirits up and makes me realize on my hardest day that there is joy and connection in this world. Thank you Paul, and hugs and kisses to you and your brilliant wife and lovely daughter.

Pete - Sheffield
I remember the excitement waiting for the new Beatles single to be released. I seem to recall that it had already made Number 1 before it's release. The first time I heard it was as a 14 year old on holiday with my folks and was sitting in the car on a hillside overlooking Belfast in N.Ireland. Only seconds into the song I knew it was already high on the list of my all time favourites. Great times that have never been repeated.

paul eastbourne
just one of the great songs from maccas magic pen.

gerarddrumm/middlesbrough
yeh,its fab,gear,and certainly not grotty!

Roy, Rochdale
Hey Jude was the single which released The Beatles into what I would call their third & final metamophis', which, as with their previous persona's, kept them way ahead of the field as song writers and icons of the sixties.

Troy Blake / auckland NZ
A simple song, with Great Soul & power, yet melodic & enough rock'n'oll to please..... Macca's singing at the end is pure genius, and the mantra type backing at the fade, gives this record a community feeling (everyone together now!) A Great,Great record has simple things done well, this record has this & much more (it is honest to the bone).....

Ian Smith Worthing W.Sussex.
Hey Jude, as with most of the McCartney songs, is a very clever melody line based on the minimalist of chords. The actual tune is 'Musical Box' style but we can easily dismiss this because of the original production we all love. Of all the variations we may have heard Macca do, both with The Lad's or subsequent others... it's the original that gets the hairs standing same with Whiter Shade of Pale or Honey Hush or Dancing Queen! Place that song and it's arrangement in today's musical environment and it would not even be sniffed at. Mainly because the modern recording techniques, standards and digital correctnes. But because the ere was was it was and The Beatles were who they were, it was a must to listen to it and a must to buy it ant become so knowlegeable about it, that you wre'nt left out of discussions at places like work or parties where everybody else was clued-up on the new Beatles hit. (Man!!) It is a classic, but so is Happy Birthday. If we hear a song or tune who's musical notation arrangement or sequence of notes, appeals to our own internal body frequencies and brain registration/memory, we will love all the more we heare it. Each time we hear it we may be somewhere completely dirrent from when we last hear it and therefore have a completely different set of emotions set in when it finishes. Thats the power of music. Really, you had to be there watching Top of The Pops when Hay Jude was released or watched the David Frost showing of it. It was an absolute must and although we can look at replays of Hey Jude now, it's just there on the TV. But to see it back then for maybe the first or second time... no electronics or pills in the world can emulate that enthusiasm. McCartney is a master of milking a brilliant melody line out of a minimal chord structure. His mind and body are such that he is totally aware of what a good song is and how it will appear to others. Ok he has had some stick for Mary Had a Little Labm or The Frog Song, but look at it from a musical point of view, instead of a 'Hip" point of view. The first is clasic pychodelic Beatles style will a hint a nursery rhyme acid thrown in and some jamaican rum for good measure. The frog Song is a masterpiece both in structure, orchestration and over-all production. Its mainly him doing all the silly voices and his mastery of the pitch controller enables him to make these projects seem effortless. He is not a musical genius! He is a human being who is very intune with what people want to hear. He is influenced by other musicians who have preceded him, as most of us are. He takes these influences and molds them byhis own means to present to what we may expect of him Take Press To Play- this song was described as 'a mess..' by one journalist. Yes, to joe average it was a very difficult song to follow but to a musician, it is a work of art. I call it his Jackson Pollock Pop Song. He'll relate to that The more you hear it, the more you will realise just what is on that track and how it must have come together. It Pans brilliantly and the performances although busy in places, are wicked My favourite at the moment is Beatiful Night. What was Macca's team doing not to get him on The National Lottery with this song! 'Make it a Beatiful night for me....' Twonks!! As it stands, this masterpiece (Musical Maigret) has been lost to album owners only (Flaming Pie) Listen to the final section. It consists of three chords. But then listen to whats going on in the Background. Horns, Strings,Heavy Ringo on BV's, an amazing arrangement due to the brilliant partnership of McCartney, George Martin and Geoff Emerick. I love McCartney. I've been a fan since I wa 5 and I'm now 42. Met the guy on several occasions and what you might have heard him as to being an ordinary guy-who too has put his finger accidentally through the bog paper once or twice, he is a normal guy. But try to live your life with a face that is known worl-over and you must really hand it to the guy that he is very aware of who and what he is. Aunty Jin always kept him in his place! God Bless ya Macca. I

Deborah P. Storck, Lakeland, Florida USA
I don't much care for this song. It Drags on and on and on... I'm surprised how many people really do like it.

Calum McGilp, Kinnerley, Shropshire
What amazes me about Hey Jude was that the lyrics were supposedly temporary - until Lennon interceded to say that they were right for the song. Macca throughout his career has come under fire for his lyrics but I feel his genius in developing melody and his singing overide this. His 1980 song 'Waterfalls' is a case in point,dummy lyrics boosted with a haunting melody and possibly his best vocal performance since Hey Jude.

ROB WALLSER plymouth
without doubt the greatest pop song of all time ,the absolute peak of their collective powers even McCartney himself must have realised he would never better this ,this will always reaffirm why they are loved so dearly

Rich Roach, Niagara Falls
The sudden jump between the two words "sad song" is euphoric.

Rob Main Northallerton, North Yorks
Has anyone else heard the obvious 4 letter expletive 2 minutes into this song, shouted after McCartney messed up a vocal part?

Jude, Maidstone
This has been one of my favourite songs for a long time - it never seems to date and always tugs at the old heartstrings

Jim F., Arcata, CA
Quite simply, the greatest song ever written. Roy Orbison's "Crying" is a close second, but not even he and his favorite song can match the Beatles' magnum opus--a beautiful, magnificent and cathartic song about which a classical musician friend of mine fondly declared, "It's not a song. It's a glorious happening."

Jim F.
Simply stated, the greatest song ever written. It is to popular music what Beethoven's Violin Concerto is to classical music--so beautiful you feel it must have been written by the gods. Jim

Neil, Ellesmere Port
This would have been a reasonable song if it had been about 3 minutes long. I remember seeing the Beatles on Top of the Pops back in the days of black and white telly and being bored to tears as they repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over... 'nah nah nah nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah, Hey Jude'. It certainly broke barriers with its length but it didn't provide content. Actually, Bob Dylan had come up with 'Like A Rolling Stone' (at six minutes) three years earlier when everything else in the charts was only two and a half, so even the length thing wasn't that big a deal.

Paul Wood, Oxford
My son is called Jude, so I am biased about this song, but nevertheless it is a superb life-affirming anthem. The way it builds to such a great crescendo is marvellous.

Bob, Chester
I think the power of Hey Jude is in it's simplicity. The first two seconds - two words, one simple chord - perfection.

Guy, Manila
Well, there's the Beatles and there's everyone else. McCartney's vocals in the fade out are stunning.

David / Toronto
To me, the chorus, ("And anytime you feel the pain...")- with the singers in the background doing harmony and Ringo drumming and the bass thumping down- is one of the Beatles' best moments.