It’s one of the most famous songs ever written – a soaring, seven-minute anthem that’s become part of popular culture. But for Julian Lennon, this Beatles hit can occasionally be more frustrating than comforting.
Julian, the son of John Lennon and his first wife Cynthia, has revealed that although he recognises the beauty and sentiment behind the 1968 hit, hearing it isn’t always easy, particularly given its personal origins and global fame.
In an interview with Esquire in 2023, Julian opened up about his relationship with ‘Hey Jude’, which Paul McCartney wrote during the breakdown of John and Cynthia’s marriage.
“It was ‘Hey Jules’ at first, but that didn’t quite sit well rhythmically,” Julian explained. “‘Hey Jude’ was a better interpretation. Paul wrote it to console Mum, and also to console me.”
McCartney, who was close to Cynthia and Julian at the time, later confirmed that the song was intended to be a gesture of support for the five-year-old boy whose family life had been turned upside down by his father’s new relationship with Yoko Ono.
But while millions have embraced the song’s message of healing and hope, Julian admits that its constant presence in the world – on radios, at weddings, in restaurants and on television – can be a bit much.
“It’s a beautiful sentiment, no question about that, and I’m very thankful – but I’ve also been driven up the wall by it,” he said. “I love the fact that he wrote a song about me and for Mum, but depending on what side of the bed one woke up on, and where you’re hearing it, it can be a good or a slightly frustrating thing.”
Still, Julian said that despite the mixed emotions, he holds no bitterness towards the song: “In my heart of hearts, there’s not a bad word I could say about it.”
Interestingly, Julian’s father had a slightly different interpretation of Hey Jude altogether.
In All We Are Saying, the final major interview John Lennon gave before his death in 1980, he reflected on ‘Hey Jude’ with admiration – but he saw himself as the song’s subject, rather than his son.
According to Lennon, Paul may have been expressing his own feelings about the growing distance between the two Beatles at the time. He believed the lyrics – particularly the line “You have found her, now go and get her” – could be interpreted as Paul’s way of offering his blessing to John’s new relationship with Yoko Ono, despite the toll it was taking on the Lennon-McCartney partnership.
“I always heard it as a song to me,” John said. “Yoko’s just come into the picture. He’s saying, ‘Hey, Jude – hey, John.’ I know I’m sounding like one of those fans reading into it, but it’s that kind of a song. He said it was written about Julian. He knew it was about me.”
Still, John was always clear that the song was entirely Paul’s creation, giving him full credit for its composition.
“That’s his best song,” he told interviewer David Sheff. “It started off as a song about my son Julian… but I always heard it as a song to me.”