Paul McCartney’s songs have always had a love/hate connection with John Lennon. Lennon was more than willing to throw McCartney’s songs in the mud if he believed they warranted it, even though the two were in an incredible songwriting partnership while they were members of The Beatles. He was also known to despise “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.” Though Lennon was able to establish laws, he believed that one song was considerably better than anything else he had produced.
It was evident in The Beatles’ early years that John Lennon was in charge of the group. Beginning with the first few albums, Lennon was typically the driving force behind each one, taking the lead vocals on most of the tracks and collaborating with McCartney as a counterpoint on ballads like “If I Fell” and “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away.”
In contrast to Lennon’s trademark bite, McCartney was more interested in creating upbeat music and always aimed to inspire the audience with his melodic abilities. Lennon was a sucker for a good McCartney song, even if his partner’s relentless optimism could sometimes be detrimental to the group’s workload. He even went so far as to call “Here There and Everywhere” one of his favorite songs ever written.
In the latter part of their career, McCartney gradually became the group’s primary player while they were in the studio. Lennon provided more experimental material with “Strawberry Fields Forever,” but McCartney soon became the lead creative role in the group after making significant progress on albums like Sgt Peppers.
Even while Lennon would never stop writing “Hey Jude,” the two would eventually reach their creative breaking point while working on The White Album. Composed by McCartney to lift the spirits of his honorary nephew Julian Lennon, the song is directed at Julian as he watches his parents go through a divorce.
Every time he performed the song, which has one of the longest outros in rock history, Lennon would get a particular kick out of it. Lennon always regarded the material as a song about their friendship, even if he could appreciate the songcraft involved.
Regarding the band’s back catalog, Lennon told Rolling Stone that he thought “Hey Jude” was a turning point in McCartney’s recording career. “It was one of Paul’s masterpieces. I always heard it as a song to me. Yoko’s just come into the picture. Paul is saying, ‘Go ahead, leave me’. He didn’t want to lose his partner.”
Various portions of the song have been interpreted by McCartney in the years following as subliminal guidance that he was also delivering to himself. “Now go and get her” may as well have been a plea for him to follow his heart instead of staying behind and allowing Linda Eastman to leave, given that he was only beginning their relationship.
Despite writing the majority of the song, McCartney acknowledged that one phrase captured Lennon’s essence. When talking about the song’s composition, McCartney mentioned that Lennon in the lyric “the movement you need is on your shoulder,” even to this day is emotional when he performs the song live.
“Hey Jude,” which is a hit song by The Beatles, is a testament to their ambition and success, regardless of the intended recipient. Even John Lennon, who was sometimes regarded as a cynical band member, was unable to dispute the strength Macca conveyed in this song.