The Beatles Hey Jude compilation released

Hey Jude The Beatles

Released: February 26, 1970 Recorded: 1964-1969 Peak: 2 US, -- RB, --UK, 2 CN, 12 AU, 11 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 3.5 US, -- UK, 5.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock

Tracks: Click on a song title for more details. Can’t Buy Me Love [2:12] I Should Have Known Better [2:43] Paperback Writer [2:19] Rain [3:02] Lady Madonna [2:19] Revolution [3:25] Hey Jude [7:10] Old Brown Shoe [3:21] Don’t Let Me Down [3:36] The Ballad of John and Yoko [3:02] Total Running Time: 33:17 Other Songs from This Era: The Inner Light Only a Northern Song [3:23] All Together Now [2:08] Hey Bulldog [3:09] It’s All Too Much [6:27] Get Back [3:13] Across the Universe [3:49]

Rating: 4.388 out of 5.00 (average of 13 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album When this compilation was released in 1970, it a logical gathering of non-album singles and B-sides. Right off the bat, however, the idea is stretched with the inclusion of “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “I Should Have Known Better.” Both songs appeared on the UK album release for A Hard Day’s Night. In the U.S., they were both on the soundtrack for A Hard Day’s Night, which wasn’t a full-fledged Beatles album, but a mix of songs by them alongside orchestral instrumentals. Next up is the 1966 single “Paperback Writer” and its B-side, “Rain.” Both songs would later be included in The Beatles 1962-1966 and Past Masters Volume Two, released in 1988. The 1968 single “Lady Madonna” makes its first album appearance, but its B-side, “The Inner Light,” wasn’t included in this collection. Both would later be released on Past Masters Volume Two. The 1968 single “Hey Jude” and its B-side “Revolution” were both included here and again on Past Masters Volume Two. In 1969, the Beatles released “Get Back” as a single with “Don’t Let Me Down” as its B-side. The latter appears on this collection, but “Get Back” does not. It would later be released on the Let It Be album, but it seems like it should have been included here since that album had yet to be released. Once again, both songs appear on Past Masters Volume Two. Finally, The 1969 single “The Ballad of John and Yoko” and its B-side, “Old Brown Shoe,” are both on this collection and would later be part of Past Masters Volume Two as well. Songs Which Should Have Been Included As previously mentioned, “The Inner Light” and “Get Back” should have been part of this collection as well. It also would have made sense to add the four cuts from the Yellow Submarine soundtrack (“Only a Northern Song,” “All Together Now,” “Hey Bulldog,” “It’s All Too Much”). The “Wildlife” version of “Across the Universe” from the charity album No One’s Gonna Change Our World would also have been a reasonable addition to the Hey Jude compilation. Like “Get Back,” it would later appear on Let It Be, but in a different version. The “Wildlife” version would finally see a release on Past Masters Volume Two in 1988. Alternate Track Listing In retrospect, this could have been a more concise collection if it focused just on non-album cuts from 1968-1969, jettisoning “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “I Should Have Known Better,” “Paperback Writer,” and “Rain” and adding the tracks mentioned above. The songs, if presented in chronological order of release, would have resulted in the following track listing: Lady Madonna [2:19] The Inner Light Hey Jude [7:10] Revolution [3:25] Only a Northern Song [3:23] All Together Now [2:08] Hey Bulldog [3:09] It’s All Too Much [6:27] Get Back [3:13] Don’t Let Me Down [3:36] The Ballad of John and Yoko [3:02] Old Brown Shoe [3:21] Across the Universe [3:49] The Songs Here’s a breakdown of individual songs.

Lady Madonna The Beatles

Writer(s): John Lennon, Paul McCartney (see lyrics here) Lead vocals: Paul McCartney Released: single (3/15/1968), Hey Jude (compilation, 2/26/1970), Past Masters Volume Two (compilation, 3/7/1988) B-Side: “The Inner Light” Peak: 4 BB, 2 CB, 2 GR, 2 HR, 2 CL, 12 UK, 1 CN, 12 AU, 7 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 2.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 18.6 video, 84.09 streaming Covered by: Fats Domino (1968, #100 BB, 87 CB), Elvis Presley (1971), Allen Toussaint (2014)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: “A snippy, impatient thing, “Lady Madonna” sounds compressed – not in the modern and technical sense, but everything in the song sounds like it’s squeezed in too tight, chafing against everything else like passengers stuffed onto a rush-hour train (audible relaxation in the last few seconds as the doors open!). This works well with a cryptic lyric about family overcrowding and stress – inasmuch as it’s about anything. You could also hear the Beatles’ own situation in it, if you liked: band members stifled in the ever-tightening knot of Beatledom.” FT “It’s good, but odd: there’s bite here, the detached sympathy of “Eleanor Rigby“ switched for irritation and even cruelty – a kind of contempt, which stretches into the song itself, as whatever rocking claims it had are undermined by that mocking kazoo-esque break. That act of self-sabotage works fine, though – the strain that shows through makes “Lady Madonna” is a much more interesting record than the band’s more straightforward attempts to ‘get back’ to their roots.” FT

The Inner Light The Beatles

Writer(s): George Harrison Lead vocals: George Harrison Released: B-side of “Lady Madonna” (3/15/1968), Past Masters Volume Two (compilation, 3/7/1988) Peak: 96 BB, 46 CL, 40 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 2.0 US (as B-side of “Lady Madonna”) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 4.16 streaming About the Song: A

Revolution The Beatles

Writer(s): John Lennon, Paul McCartney (see lyrics here) Lead vocals: John Lennon Released: B-side of “Hey Jude” (8/26/1968), Hey Jude (compilation, 2/26/1970), Past Masters Volume Two (compilation, 3/7/1988) Peak: 12 BB, 11 CB, 12 GR, 2 HR, 1 CL, 2 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 4.0 US, 1.21 UK, 10.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 84.92 video, 124.14 streaming Covered by: Thompson Twins (1985, #56 UK), Mike + the Mechanics (1989, #82 CN), Stone Temple Pilots (2001, #30 AR, 56 UK, 3 CN), Grandaddy (2002), Rascal Flatts (2007, #57 CW), Imagine Dragons (2014)

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About the Song: The B-side of the Beatles’ biggest single was no also-ran throwaway. Like most of the group’s songs on the flip side, “Revolution” was a nice contrast to its twin. John Lennon hoped his combative rocker, “Revolution,” would be the A-side, TB but he was usurped by Paul McCartney’s sing-along composition “Hey Jude,” desinted for chart-topping status. It was the Fab Four’s first release in their new Apple label. “Lennon self-righteousness could be a wonder to be behold.” DMThe song features a “ferocious fuzztone rock and roll attack and Lennon snarling “You can count me out.’ Not a progressive sentiment but as regards those who went around carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, he was right.” DM In essence, Lennon was embracing the inspiration for political protests and need for social change, especially in regards to opposition against the Vietnam War, but questioned the violent tactics advocated by some extremists. The song’s mention of Mao was a reference to the Maost idea embraced by some activitsts at the time advocating for social change in society through a purging of its non-progressive elements. WK To his bandmates dismay, Lennon insisted “Revolution” be a single. Upon its release, the political left viewed the song as a sign that the Beatles were out of step with the more radical elements of the counterculture and betraying their cause. WK When the song showed up on The White Album “as a softened up blues” DM Lennon changed the line “You can count me out” to “You can count me in.” Critics have praised “the intensity of the band’s performance and the heavily distorted guitar sound.” WK In 1987, it was the first Beatles’ recording licensed for a television commercial which resulted in a lawsuit from the surving members of the group. WK

Old Brown Shoe The Beatles

Writer(s): George Harrison Lead vocals: George Harrison Released: B-side of “The Ballad of John and Yoko” (5/30/1969), Hey Jude (compilation, 2/26/1970), Past Masters Volume Two (compilation, 3/7/1988) Peak: 20 CL, 36 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.0 US (as B-side of “The Ballad of John and Yoko”) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 7.50 streaming About the Song: A

Hey Jude The Beatles

Writer(s): John Lennon, Paul McCartney (see lyrics here) Lead vocals: Paul McCartney Released: single (8/26/1968), Hey Jude (compilation, 2/26/1970), Past Masters Volume Two (compilation, 3/7/1988) Peak: 19 US, 17 CB, 14 HR, 41 AR (1990 live version by Paul McCartney), 12 UK, 13 CN, 113 AU, 1 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 4.0 US, 1.06 UK, 10.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 3.0 radio, 329.03 video, 689.25 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: The birth of “Hey Jude” is a story familiar to anyone versed in Rock and Roll History 101: Cynthia Lennon was soon to be the ex-wife of the famous Beatle. To soothe the couple’s young son, Julian, John’s band mate Paul McCartney offered words of encouragement in the best way he knew how – through song. He changed “Jules” to “Jude” because it was “more mellifluous.” DJ Julian said Paul hung out with him more than his own dad. TC However, there are alternative versions of the inspiration for the rock-and-roll era’s greatest single. In his autobiography, Many Years from Now, McCartney confirms that he thought of the song on the way to visit Cynthia and Julian, TC but that the song was really about himself. KL Meanwhile, Lennon concluded the song was Paul’s commentary on the strain that John and Yoko’s relationship put on the bond between John and Paul. RS500 Regardless of its origin, “‘Hey Jude’ kicks ass on a par with Van Gogh or Beethoven in their prime.” PW As the first single from the Beatles’ new Apple Records label, it was history’s highest debut (at #10) on the U.S. charts at that time. FB It became the best-selling single of the sixties DJ and the Beatles’ biggest U.S. hit. At over seven minutes, “Hey Jude” was the longest single ever released at the time. SF More than half the song’s length is borne out of the “na na na“ fade-out coda that repeats 19 times. RS500 Those four-plus minutes alone were more than most radio stations allowed for a single, but “there’s such spirit in the tune and the performance that it’s hard to cut.” TC Interestingly, the featured orchestra was paid double their usual fee just to clap and sing along. RS500 Producer George Martin was wary that radio wouldn’t play “Hey Jude,” to which John cheekily retorted, “They will if it’s us.” RS500 When Lennon’s assumption proved correct, the real winners were DJ’s who could take longer bathroom breaks as the listening public absorbed similarly lengthy hits like “American Pie” and “Layla.”

Don’t Let Me Down The Beatles with Billy Preston

Writer(s): John Lennon, Paul McCartney Lead vocals: John Lennon Released: B-side of “Get Back” (4/11/1969), Hey Jude (compilation, 2/26/1970), Past Masters Volume Two (compilation, 3/7/1988) Peak: 35 BB, 57 CB, 33 HR, 10 CL, 19 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, -- UK, 5.0 world (includes US + UK) (as B-side of “Get Back”) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 209.62 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: A

The Ballad of John and Yoko The Beatles

Writer(s): John Lennon, Paul McCartney Lead vocals: John Lennon Released: single (5/30/1969), Hey Jude (compilation, 2/26/1970), Past Masters Volume Two (compilation, 3/7/1988) B-Side: “Old Brown Shoe” Peak: 8 BB, 10 CB, 7 HR, 3 CL, 13 UK, 14 AU, 18 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 33.0 video, 59.06 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: A

Resources/References Beatles’ Singles Discography FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 247. TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Pages 239-40. FT FreakyTrigger.co.uk (8/10/2006). "Popular (UK #1 Singles)" by Tom Ewing DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Pages 74-5. KL Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh (2005). 1000 UK Number One Hits: The Stories Behind Every Number One Single Since 1952. London, Great Britain: Omnibus Press. DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New American Library: New York, NY. Page 424. RS500 Rolling Stone (12/2004). The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. SF Songfacts page for “Hey Jude” TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Pages 100-1. WK Wikipedia page for Hey Jude album WK Wikipedia page for “Revolution” PW Paul Williams (1993). Rock and Roll: The Best 100 Singles. Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc.: New York, NY Page 137. Related DMDB Pages: First posted 8/20/2025.