Julian Lennon explains his “love-hate” relationship with The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude’
Julian Lennon has opened up about his “love-hate” relationship with The Beatles‘ classic track ‘Hey Jude’.
The musician and son of late Beatles icon John Lennon talked about the song – which remains one of the Fab Four’s biggest hits – during a recent appearance on the Club Random With Bill Maher podcast.
“I have a love-hate [relationship] with it, I have to say,” Julian explained (via Loudwire).
“I’ve probably heard that song and heard renditions of [it] more than most people alive. And even my dear friends send me babies in nappies playing guitars [and] singing ‘Hey Jude’, which I really don’t need.”
He continued: “I’m thankful for the song without question. But … the other real thing is that people don’t really understand that [the track is] a stark and dark reminder of actually what happened.
“The fact that dad walked out, walked away – left mum and I. That was a point of complete change and complete disruption and complete darkness and sadness. I mean, I was only 3, but I recognised that something was up, you know?”
As Julian referred to in the conversation, Paul McCartney wrote the 1968 non-album single for him about his father’s break-up with his mother, Cynthia. The couple had separated and John began a relationship with Yoko Ono, whom he married in 1969.
‘Hey Jude’, which was originally titled ‘Hey Jules’, remains a staple of McCartney’s solo live concerts.
“I started with the idea ‘Hey Jules,’ which was Julian, don’t make it bad, take a sad song and make it better,” McCartney explained in 1997 of how the single came about (via American Songwriter).
“Hey, try and deal with this terrible thing. I knew it was not going to be easy for him. I always feel sorry for kids in divorces.”
You can see a clip of Julian talking about ‘Hey Jude’ above, and watch the interview in its entirety.
While reflecting on the track last year, Julian described his late mother – who died in 2015 – as “the be-all and end-all of life for me, and [‘Hey Jude’] was about looking after her, still is about making her proud”.
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Tom Skinner
NME
