When the Beatles’ Paul McCartney wrote “Hey Jude,” he likely didn’t dream that it would one day be sung by a young music student to his beloved music teacher. “Hey Jude” was a top-selling hit when it was released in the U.K., Canada, the U.S., and Australia. It even stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for nine full weeks. In the years that followed, “Hey Jude” has sold more than eight million copies. Music critics widely consider this beautiful song to be one of the greatest songs ever written or recorded. But there’s a heartbreaking story behind “Hey Jude” that many fans don’t know about.
When Paul McCartney’s fellow Beatle John Lennon decided to leave his first wife to be with his lover, Yoko Ono, there was, unfortunately, a heartbroken little boy involved. John’s son, Julian Lennon, was having a hard time coping with the breakup of his family. Paul McCartney knew this and wrote “Hey Jude” after having a conversation with Julian about his parents’ divorce. “Hey Jude” was written as a gift from one of the greatest musicians of all time for a confused little boy. The premise of the song is to encourage Julian to have a positive outlook even in the midst of a challenging personal struggle. The song also expresses the hope that Julian will one day be open to the possibility of finding a very special love of his own someday.
Since those early days, “Hey Jude” has become one of Paul McCartney’s signature songs. Another of the Beatles’ iconic songs is “Let It Be.” When “Let It Be” was released as a single in 1970, it was the last song ever recorded by the Beatles before Paul McCartney announced his departure from the band. In the U.K., the song quickly went to number one, as it did in markets around the world, including Australia, the U.S., Austria, Hungary, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Norway. Paul McCartney famously wrote “Let It Be” after he had a dream in which his late mother visited him and said to him, “Just let it be.”
YouTube
In the video below, a young music student did a mashup of the two classic Beatles songs and performed it for his music teacher, telling her, “I’d like to serenade you.” His beautiful performance was so moving, the teacher ended up crying. Watch this stunning, heartwarming performance below.
