Hey Jude

“Hey Jude” is a song by the English rock band The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney but officially credited to the Lennon-McCartney songwriting duo. The ballad evolved from “Hey Jules,” a song widely believed to have been written by McCartney to comfort John Lennon’s son, Julian, during his parents’ divorce. The song was released in August 1968 as the first single on Apple Records, the Beatles’ own record label. At over seven minutes long, “Hey Jude” was at the time the longest single ever to top the British charts. The song also spent nine weeks at number one on the U.S. charts—the longest any Beatles single has remained at the top of the American charts—and sold approximately eight million copies. It frequently appears on professional lists of the greatest songs of all time.

After lengthy internal debates, however, I decided it was my absolute favorite. A song that has stayed with me since early childhood and reminds me of discovering music at a time when the only window to that world was a radio and the few vinyl records brought back by the wealthy parents of my high school friends. I realize this isn’t an obvious choice and is certainly very subjective.

Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na…