Speaker 1: Pushkin. Hi, everyone, it's Paul Moldoin. Before we get to
Speaker 1: this episode, I wanted to let you know that you
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Speaker 2: I remember one time when I was a kid and
Speaker 2: me and my friend Ian James, we were at a
Speaker 2: fair ground in our flecked jackets and I had a
Speaker 2: little flap on my breast pocket. I've really fancied myself.
Speaker 2: And we came back from this fairground ex tradition, and
Speaker 2: I had a major headache. So I sat down and
Speaker 2: we put on Elvis record All Shook Up, Love Amar
Speaker 2: Shook Up Yay, And by the end of that record,
Speaker 2: my headache had gods. So you know, the healing power
Speaker 2: of music is undeniable.
Speaker 3: Love Amara Shook Up.
Speaker 1: And Paul will do for a number of years. I've
Speaker 1: been fortunate to spend time with one of the greatest
Speaker 1: songwriters of the era.
Speaker 2: And will you look at me, I'm going on to
Speaker 2: I'm actually a performer, that.
Speaker 1: Is Sir Paul McCartney. We worked together on a book
Speaker 1: looking at the lyrics of more than one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty of his songs, and we recorded many hours of
Speaker 1: our conversations.
Speaker 2: It was like going back to an old snapshot album
Speaker 2: looking back on work I hadn't ever analyzed.
Speaker 1: This is McCartney, a life in lyrics, a masterclass, a memoir,
Speaker 1: and an improvised journey with one of the most iconic
Speaker 1: figures in popular music in this episode, hey hey hey, Jude, Hey,
Speaker 1: Hey hey Hey. In the spring of nineteen sixty eight,
Speaker 1: John and Cynthia Lennon's marriage fell apart. He had been
Speaker 1: having a secret affair with the artist Yoko Ono and
Speaker 1: decided to leave his wife and five year old son, Julian.
Speaker 1: Paul McCartney had known Cynthia Lennon since the early days
Speaker 1: in Liverpool and he was like an uncle to Julian.
Speaker 2: I was traveling Monday to see Julian Lenon, yes his
Speaker 2: mother Cynthia, and I used to call him Jewels. So
Speaker 2: the song started off when I was in the car
Speaker 2: driving out, which was a forty five minute drive out
Speaker 2: of central London, and people had sort of suggested, Oh,
Speaker 2: you know, I fancy Cynthia was going to Well, people
Speaker 2: can suggest anything like but I didn't. I was just
Speaker 2: going out just as a friend, just sort of see them.
Speaker 2: And so in my mind, Hey, Jules, what's so don't
Speaker 2: make it bad? You know, I know this is tough
Speaker 2: for you. But take a sad song and make it better.
Speaker 4: Remember do letter and deal.
Speaker 5: Then you can start do make it better.
Speaker 2: Your dad's just left you, so it was like trying
Speaker 2: to be encouraging, so it was an encouraging song. Remember
Speaker 2: to let anything to your heart, remember to let love
Speaker 2: into your heart. If make it better.
Speaker 1: This is often the case with McCartney's songwriting. He started
Speaker 1: with a specific inspiration, then followed the story of the
Speaker 1: song where it led him.
Speaker 2: What often happened for my songs is it starts off
Speaker 2: with someone being worried about something in life, a specific
Speaker 2: thing like a divorce. But then I start to just
Speaker 2: morph it because I still get it fed up with
Speaker 2: the theme and I like to just move away from
Speaker 2: because nobody knows what this is about. So I'm just
Speaker 2: saying make it better. And to somebody called Jude, I
Speaker 2: don't have a clutch and called jud.
Speaker 1: Yes, because people would not have known at the time.
Speaker 1: M that in after years discuss.
Speaker 2: Yes, So then I start moving. You were made to
Speaker 2: go out and get her. Now there's a woman arrival
Speaker 2: on the scene. So now he's said about a breakup something.
Speaker 2: So remember now to let her under your skin, and
Speaker 2: then you begin to make it better. And anytime you
Speaker 2: feel the pain, now it's mixed. It could be about
Speaker 2: Julian or it could be about this new woman relationship.
Speaker 5: Hey, dude, don't be afraid.
Speaker 4: You were made to God and get her.
Speaker 6: The minute you let her under your skin, then you
Speaker 6: begin to make it better.
Speaker 2: And it's anyone. I like my songs to be every
Speaker 2: man or every woman because I know people are going
Speaker 2: to listen to them, and I like the fact that
Speaker 2: they put their own interpretations on them. And I'm glad
Speaker 2: when the lyrics get up bit screwed up they mishear
Speaker 2: them because it's yours. Now you know, I've let it
Speaker 2: go and so now you should make of it what
Speaker 2: you will.
Speaker 1: McCartney himself had been struggling. It was a stressful time.
Speaker 1: The Beatles were beginning to drift apart, even as they
Speaker 1: were finding their own record label, Apple Core. McCartney had
Speaker 1: just separated from his fiance, the actress Jane Asher, and
Speaker 1: was falling in love with the photographer Linda Eastman. As
Speaker 1: much as he was writing words of consolation for little Julian,
Speaker 1: he himself may have been in need of encouragement.
Speaker 2: So anytime you feel the pain, did you refrain? Don't
Speaker 2: carry the world on your shoulder.
Speaker 4: And any time you feel the pain of fame, don't
Speaker 4: care the world your shoulder.
Speaker 3: Well, you know that is a.
Speaker 7: Food ming is world on its golder.
Speaker 2: That's something that I'm quite keen on. That idea that
Speaker 2: to be cool you've got to betray yourself. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: what the fucky man? I'm sorry, Tod jeezuz if nothing
Speaker 2: gets to me baby, hey wow, how col is? And
Speaker 2: to me it's always well, no, it's not because we
Speaker 2: can see through it.
Speaker 5: Cool.
Speaker 2: It's actually great if you can be it for real.
Speaker 2: But that's sort of faking. If you just try and
Speaker 2: play it cool, then it's not happening. You'll be making
Speaker 2: you well a little colder, and that's not a good idea.
Speaker 2: So it's a good of advice.
Speaker 4: When I was a robber in Boston place, you gathered
Speaker 4: round me.
Speaker 2: With your fun, embrace Hey Dude.
Speaker 1: In the studio, the Beatles always preferred being playful to playing.
Speaker 1: At Cole they did a few takes of Hey Jude,
Speaker 1: but Paul McCartney remembers knowing in the moment which one
Speaker 1: they would use.
Speaker 5: Hey Dude, don't make it bad, Take a sad song
Speaker 5: and make it beatter.
Speaker 1: He had accidentally begun the song while Ringo was out
Speaker 1: of the room, but Ringo managed to return from the
Speaker 1: toilet at just the right moment, hitting his drum entrance perfectly.
Speaker 4: At any time you feel a pain of hajo.
Speaker 1: It was the most spirited take, though not without mistakes.
Speaker 1: If you listen really carefully, you may hear one of
Speaker 1: the band members swearing. When Paul flubs the piano part.
Speaker 5: Remem to and ask him then you make.
Speaker 7: To making bed.
Speaker 1: Just as the subject of the song shifted for the writer,
Speaker 1: the meaning transformed for those who heard it. When Paul
Speaker 1: McCartney played a draft of Hey Jude for John Lennon
Speaker 1: and Yoko Ono, John thought the song was addressed to
Speaker 1: him instead up to his son. From Lennon's point of view,
Speaker 1: Paul McCartney was encouraging his friend to stop waiting for
Speaker 1: someone to perform with and to go out and get her.
Speaker 6: So let it out, let it in.
Speaker 7: Hey, you wait.
Speaker 2: To I like singing that, don't you know?
Speaker 7: That is just you?
Speaker 2: Don't you know this's you? Hey, Jude, you do Junie,
Speaker 2: He is on your shoulder. The movement you need is
Speaker 2: on your shoulder. Now, I thought that was me just
Speaker 2: blocking in. And when I played it to John and
Speaker 2: Yoko in my music room on my psychedelic piano, I'm
Speaker 2: sitting facing this way, a little standing behind me, almost
Speaker 2: on my shoulder, and they're listening and answer pleasing myself.
Speaker 2: I'm playing this new song and I turn around Toton
Speaker 2: you need is on your shoulder, and turn around to
Speaker 2: Jona said don't worry, I'll change that, and he looked
Speaker 2: at me, said you want you know it's the best
Speaker 2: line in it.
Speaker 1: John Lennon wasn't the only one who heard something deeply
Speaker 1: personal in the song who would feel as if Paul
Speaker 1: was singing directly to him. The song became a call
Speaker 1: to anyone who had gone through difficult times and needed
Speaker 1: cheering up.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I just think that everyone goes through
Speaker 2: periods in their life when things are going wrong, you know,
Speaker 2: they're losing people, their children are ill or whatever, and
Speaker 2: it's just so much pain. In regard to all of that,
Speaker 2: I'm empathizing and trying to encourage someone who is going
Speaker 2: through a really bad time, because I know when I've
Speaker 2: been going through bad times. I don't know, like Linda's
Speaker 2: illness and consequent death and the breakup of the Beatles,
Speaker 2: all these sort of things, these moments in your life.
Speaker 2: I know, you really feel that you've got a pit
Speaker 2: in your stomach all the time. So to me, the
Speaker 2: idea sometimes behind songs is to try and reach that
Speaker 2: person and say, look, you know, how about this thought.
Speaker 2: So I'm always trying to do that. I notice. I
Speaker 2: notice I'm always trying to say, look, it's going to
Speaker 2: be okay, you know it will be all right. I'm
Speaker 2: trying to be the voice of encouragement.
Speaker 4: Hey, you don't make it bad, make it.
Speaker 1: Manna Hate Jude is a song that's able to shift
Speaker 1: and take on new meaning with each rendition. What started
Speaker 1: as a song for Julian Lennon took on new resonance
Speaker 1: for each listener who could apply it to whatever struggle
Speaker 1: they were facing in their own lives. It also struck
Speaker 1: a chord with other musicians who covered the song and
Speaker 1: gave it their own spin. This included the man whose
Speaker 1: song cured Paul's headache all those years ago, Elvis Presley.
Speaker 3: Hate You No Let Me Down, make a sad song
Speaker 3: and making manner.
Speaker 6: No many you let her into your heart?
Speaker 3: There you can stop you.
Speaker 2: Make each time you sing it?
Speaker 1: Are you singing it for the first time?
Speaker 2: It's a bit that. Yeah, I'm singing a twenty something
Speaker 2: composers lyrics and I'm evaluating them, listening to see how
Speaker 2: he does. And I'm marking myself and I must say
Speaker 2: generally good marks and generally approve because I'm going, oh,
Speaker 2: just little things like for well, you know, instead of
Speaker 2: for you know, well, it's just for well, you know,
Speaker 2: it's just going I did that. I often have to
Speaker 2: stop myself doing that because there's ninety thousand people here
Speaker 2: and you're supposed to be relating to them when you're
Speaker 2: actually awful.
Speaker 7: Ooh that good.
Speaker 1: The spirit of Hey Jude is present in its lyrics,
Speaker 1: but it's equally present in Paul McCartney's vocal perform ormance
Speaker 1: of the song. What begins as a song for a
Speaker 1: child in pen becomes an act of self compassion. In
Speaker 1: the words of the music critic Tim Riley, McCartney begins
Speaker 1: by singing to comfort someone else, finds himself weighing his
Speaker 1: own feelings in the process, and finally, in the repeated
Speaker 1: refrains that nurture his own approbation, he comes to believe
Speaker 1: in himself.
Speaker 7: Age you.
Speaker 1: As McCartney's original sense has carried across generations, Hey Jude
Speaker 1: itself has also maintained its intergenerational appeal. The idea of
Speaker 1: taking a sad song and making it better is something
Speaker 1: pretty much everybody can get behind, just as we can
Speaker 1: all sing along with the songs rising by Crow.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, when I do concerts, I have
Speaker 2: people in the audience from every generation older than my generation,
Speaker 2: people of my generation, people of my children's generation, and
Speaker 2: people of their children's generation. And it always surprises me
Speaker 2: because I think in rock and roll we all expected
Speaker 2: that it wouldn't last very long. So I do find
Speaker 2: it incredible that I can see a five year old
Speaker 2: who knows the words as well, sometimes even better than
Speaker 2: I do, and then I can see their parents enjoying it,
Speaker 2: and possibly they've come to it through their parents. As
Speaker 2: you go on to the eldest generation. You know, people
Speaker 2: who are a few years ahead of me. They all
Speaker 2: lived through this time, through the sixties, and through the
Speaker 2: excitement and the freedom, So we all are experiencing this
Speaker 2: thing together. No matter what age we are, the feeling
Speaker 2: is still the same and it never ceases to amaze me.
Speaker 1: Hey Jude was the first single from the Beatles' own
Speaker 1: record company, Apple Core, and at over seven minutes, it
Speaker 1: was the longest single to ever hit number one. The
Speaker 1: Beatles released Hey Dude in nineteen sixty eight. In the
Speaker 1: next episode.
Speaker 3: To Lead a Metal Life, My Need My.
Speaker 1: McCartney's favorite McCartney song, Here, There and everywhere. That's next
Speaker 1: time on McCartney A Life in Lyrics. McCartney A Life
Speaker 1: in Lyrics is a co production between iHeartMedia, NPL and
Speaker 1: Pushkin Industries.