Hey Jude — The Beatles (1968)

Why it's in this book

"Hey Jude" is April's anchor song, and what we work on above all is the ending: the coda, four minutes of choir over just three chords. It is the song in this book for singing in two and three parts without sheet music. Over a loop that never changes, each group finds its note and holds it. Its chord family is different from the others in the book: I–♭VII–IV, with a "borrowed" chord that is not in the major scale and gives the coda its celebratory sound. In class we play it in G, one tone higher than the record: G, F and C, three easy ukulele chords. In the room with nothing, we sing the coda a cappella, first in unison and then opening out into parts; in the ukulele room, we play the three-chord loop; in the music room the whole band comes in, with the keyboard marking the bass. To be honest: the record's verses and bridge have many more chords than fit at this point. That is why April's work is the coda, not the whole song. That same month, the twelve-bar blues in C completes the work of improvising over a loop.

Why this song

If you have ever seen a whole stadium sing "na, na, na" with nobody conducting, you already know the end of "Hey Jude". Paul McCartney has kept singing it in concert for decades, and in the coda it is the audience who sings.

The question on this page is: how can a song repeat the same thing for four minutes without getting boring?

Historical context

In 1968 John Lennon left his wife, Cynthia, for the Japanese artist Yoko Ono. They had a five-year-old son, Julian. Paul McCartney drove out to see them and, on the way, started singing something to comfort the boy: "Hey Jules". Later he changed the name to Jude, which he thought sounded better.

The lyrics do not talk about divorce. They say something simpler: take a sad song and make it better.

Foto: Picachord, CC BY-SA 4.0, vía Wikimedia Commons

This building in London's Soho was Trident Studios. The Beatles came here to record, instead of their usual studio, for a technical reason: Trident had an eight-track recorder, and theirs only had four. With eight tracks they could record the band, the voices and an orchestra separately and mix them afterwards. "Hey Jude" was the first Beatles song recorded that way.

The song lasts more than seven minutes. McCartney and the producer, George Martin, were afraid radio stations would not play it. Lennon replied: "They will if it's us." He was right. It was number 1 for nine weeks in the United States and the best-selling single of 1968 in several countries.

Musical characteristics

A song in two halves. For about three minutes, "Hey Jude" is a ballad: verses, a bridge, piano and voice. Then it changes its mind. A coda begins, a closing section that works almost like another song. And that coda lasts longer than everything before it: about four minutes.

Three chords going round. In the coda, the harmony is a loop of three chords: F, E flat and B flat, and back to F. The E flat is the key detail. It should not be in F major: it is a "borrowed" chord. A major scale with its seventh note lowered by a semitone is called the Mixolydian mode. That semitone is what makes the coda sound like a party and not a ballad.

In class we play it one tone higher, in G: G, F and C. It is the same loop, transposed to easy ukulele chords.

How four minutes hold up. The loop repeats 19 times. Everything else changes. The orchestra comes in, 36 musicians. The orchestra players sing and clap. And McCartney, on top, improvises shouts and new phrases on every round. The harmony stays still so the voice can move. Singing something new, on the spot, over a base that does not change, is called improvising.

An ending that doesn't end. The song does not finish on a final chord. It slowly fades away, with the choir still singing. This is called a fade-out: the song moves away, as if it were still playing in another room.

Hard facts: F major, with the coda in F Mixolydian; 4/4; 74 beats per minute; 7:11. Form: verses and bridges for about three minutes and a coda of about four.

Guided listening

Play the music video. At first there is only the piano and McCartney's voice, which starts almost without an intro. Count how many instruments you hear.

In the second verse, notice when the drums and tambourine come in. The song starts to walk.

When the bridge arrives, listen to how the harmony moves more than in the verse. It is the hardest part of the song, and that is why we do not play it in class.

When the coda starts, count the rounds of the loop. F, E flat, B flat, F. Try to count up to five rounds.

In the video, watch for the moment the audience moves up to the Beatles and starts singing with them. Compare it with the beginning: the same three chords, but now everyone is singing.

Trivia and curiosities

• Of the 36 orchestra musicians, one refused to sing and clap. The rest agreed, in exchange for double pay. The crowd you hear in the coda is partly an orchestra singing.

• The video was first shown on a British TV show, "Frost on Sunday", in September 1968. The audience that moves in to sing was there for that: the video was planned with people singing from the start.

• "Hey Jude" was the first record on the Beatles' own label, Apple. A seven-minute song to launch a company.

• For nine years no song beat it for weeks at number 1 in the United States. Nine weeks in a row, with a four-minute coda.

Classroom activities

• Coda in unison. The whole class sings the coda's "na, na, na" a cappella, in unison. Boys an octave lower. Keep the beat with your feet. Hold the slow tempo even if you feel like rushing.

• Opening out into parts. Over the same loop, one group keeps the melody. Another finds a note a third away and holds it. A third group, a fifth away. If it sounds good, there is no need to write it down: learn it by ear.

• The loop on ukulele. G, F, C and back to G. One chord per bar. When it works, some play and others sing, then swap.

• Improvise on top. While the class sings the coda, one person sings a new two-bar phrase over the loop. Then the next. Nobody has rehearsed it: that is improvising.

• Band. In the music room, the keyboard marks the loop's bass with the left hand. The drums come in softly and grow with every round. Record the whole coda and listen to whether the tempo held.

Key vocabulary

• Coda — coda: la sección que cierra la canción
• Eight-track — ocho pistas
• Mixolydian mode — modo mixolidio: escala mayor con la séptima bajada medio tono
• Improvising — improvisar
• Fade-out — fundido

Resources

Official music video — Filmed in 1968 with an audience, who join in on the coda.

Ukulele tutorial — Cynthia Lin. Play and sing along, with chords and lyrics on screen.

Guitar tutorial — JustinGuitar. An easy version, step by step.

Piano tutorial — PHianonize. An easy version.

Drum tutorial — A short five-minute lesson.