George Harrison was "offended" by Paul McCartney when they were recording "Hey Jude" by The Beatles

George Harrison was "offended" by Paul McCartney when they were recording "Hey Jude" by The Beatles

One of the best uplifting tunes in the canon of classic rock is "Hey Jude." Paradoxically, Paul McCartney said that during the song's completion, he offended George Harrison. The singer of "yesterday" felt bad about some of his choices. Still, the song peaked at number one in a number of other nations.
In his 1997 book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, Paul talked about the controversial "Hey Jude" recording. "I recall sitting down and introducing George to the song. George responded to every word that was spoken, which is what a guitarist would naturally do," Paul said. And the response was, 'No, George.'"

He was rather offended, and in retrospect, I believe that he was justified in feeling that way. You're really impressing the guy. Paul went on. "No, no," I replied. Maybe you enter during the second chorus; this is going to develop to a major moment.

Paul compared The Beatles' overall dynamic to the recording of "Hey Jude." That's what makes a group challenging, he remarked. "You are not the director controlling a dance group, where it is what they expect from you in a natural way. At best, a group is a pretty democratic entity, and you're simply a person in it. In terms of voting and group standing, we were all on an equal footing.

Nonetheless, the "let it be" singer acknowledged that he was occasionally an authoritarian. "When we made the Anthology, we were making jokes, and I was like, 'I know I was a bossy git,'" he recalled. "Oh no, Paul, you never did anything like that," exclaimed George. Paul claimed that when George stated that, he was being sardonic.

"Hey Jude" became an enormous hit in the US. Nine of the 19 weeks it spent on the chart were at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. The song was on the first album. He spent eight of his 540 weeks on the chart with that album at the top of the Billboard 200.

"Hey Jude" topped the UK charts for two weeks out of a total of 19 weeks, according to the Official Charts Company. In the 1980s, it peaked at number 52. Nine of the album's 444 weeks at the top of the UK chart were spent as the album's position.

"Hey Jude" had an impact as well. It cleared the way for more epic rock ballads, such as “Let It Be” by The Beatles, “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” by Meat Loaf, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by The Rolling Stones, and “American Pie” by Don McLean.

Although tastes in music are always evolving, "Hey Jude" is one of those upbeat, worldwide hits that may last a lifetime.

While they were writing "Hey Jude," Paul irritated George, but the song ended up making millions of people happy.

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