Take a Sad Song and Make It Better

Hey Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better.

Hey Jude, don't be afraid
You were made to go out and get her
The minute you let her under your skin,
Then you begin to make it better

And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain,
Don't carry the world upon your shoulders
For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder

Hey Jude, don't let me down
You have found her, now go and get her
Remember to let her into your heart,
Then you can start to make it better

So let it out and let it in, hey Jude, begin
You're waiting for someone to perform with
And don't you know that it's just you, hey Jude, you'll do
The movement you need is on your shoulder

Hey Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her under your skin,
Then you'll begin to make it
Better better better better better better, (make it Jude) ooh

Na na na nananana, nananana, hey Jude... (Repeat X amount of times)


“Hey Jude” by the Beatles

They were just a tiny band from Liverpool. A man named John met a guitarist named Paul at school, and they formed a band called The Quarrymen. Soon after they met a fellow named George, and a few years and a name change later, a drummer named Richard Starkey, who eventually became known as Ringo Starr. They signed a record deal and recorded an album in Abbey Road Studios, and, less than a year later, became a huge sensation in not only their native UK, but in the United States as well. In fact, they became so popular, a term was coined in their honor in an attempt to describe the frenzy surrounding them: Beatlemania. Album after album was released, containing songs destined to be classics. Their material started to be deeper and deeper in meaning, until every song was analyzed as a philosophical masterpiece, or a drug-induced tune. Yet their fame was starting to become too much for them, and John, after meeting a lady named Yoko, left the band, as well as his previous wife. Paul, in an attempt to console John’s son, Julian, wrote a ballad called “Hey Jude.” This song was one of the final masterpieces of that Liverpool band, and has quite often been named a classic by several professionals and listeners alike. It was forty years ago that The Beatles released it, and, to commemorate it, Rolling Stone would like to bring you a story on the greatest rock band of all time, and to find what they had been saying for years in their best masterpiece: “Hey Jude.”

The Beatles began with softer, lighthearted songs, like “Twist and Shout,” “Love Me Do,” and “P.S. I Love You.” Their brand of music was popular at the time, and related most to the rock and roll of the 1950s, with influences from artists like Buddy Holly. The teen girls of the UK and US fell in love with the band, along with seemingly the rest of the world. As time passed, they matured, with experimental albums like “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” and their White Album, simply titled “The Beatles.” They sounded completely different from what had come before, and even what they had been when they first started out. When psychedelic rock reached its zenith in the hippie-era of the mid-1960s, The Beatles were there. Their music during this time was innovative, with mind-bending songs like “I am the Walrus,” and the ever-popular “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” Their instruments shifted all over the spectrum, which infected their sound with an Indian vibe, or a classical piece turned rock and roll, like “Across the Universe,” or “Eleanor Rigby,” respectively. “Universe” was released during Vietnam, and its peaceful point reflects it. The Beatles were staunch believers in peace, which John Lennon actively took part in trying to spread. His ally in this was Yoko Ono, his love and future wife. Unfortunately, when Lennon met Ono, he was married to Cynthia Lennon, and had a son, Julian. John eventually divorced Cynthia and married Yoko. Julian was feeling depressed about the end of his parents’ marriage, and so Paul was driving to his house to comfort him and his mother. “I thought, as a friend of the family, I would motor out to Weybridge and tell them that everything was all right: to try and cheer them up, basically, and see how they were,” said Paul. “I had about an hour's drive. I would always turn the radio off and try and make up songs, just in case... I started singing: 'Hey Jules - don't make it bad, take a sad song, and make it better...' It was optimistic, a hopeful message for Julian: 'Come on, man, your parents got divorced. I know you're not happy, but you'll be OK.'” Thus, McCartney came up with one of The Beatles’ greatest hits.

The song is sung relatively slowly and delicately. McCartney’s voice sounds consoling, full of wisdom and hope. The first two verses seem to say that to overcome the pain, one has to acknowledge it. Yet in the next verse, he warns that, after the pain has been acknowledged it must be pushed away. This can be done by “taking a sad song and making it better.” By finding the positive in life, the outlook seems brighter, and the darkness in life is dimmed, for the pain is temporary. And if the pain ever tried to overcome someone in a moment of weakness, one must focus on that positive thing, that dark thing turned good, and the pain would be abated. In the fifth verse, McCartney sings that it is just “you” that can change the pain, and one should not wait for someone else to try to get it started.

The Beatles broke up in 1970 after personal disputes and weariness of working together. John Lennon was killed in 1980 by Mark David Chapman, and George Harrison died from cancer in 2001. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have since embarked on solo careers, both meeting success. Yet the “Fab Four” will always be remembered as The Beatles. Their fun, thought-provoking music is some of the most popular in the world. “Hey Jude,” along with several of their other hits, are all easily recognized and well-known. In the end, the message of “Hey Jude” is to find the positive in the negative. Jules was meant to find it in his parents’ divorce, yet the song works because it is a universal message that every human being can relate to. It worked for its time because Vietnam was in its death throes, and people were enveloped in a quagmire of depression. People needed that light at the end of the tunnel, letting them know that even though things were bad right now, it would eventually work out in the end. That in everything dark, there is a light. That meaning carries through today, where the world continues to suffer. Yet we can try to make something good out of it. To quote “The End,” the final song from The Beatles, “In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” One must work for that love, which is what The Beatles always wanted: for everyone to love. That is why “Hey Jude” is such a classic, and why it is one of The Beatles’ greatest songs ever.

Hypnopaedia

The hypnopaedia statement in the video, “Suicide is Sleep,” reflects the life of people in society today. People are in a constant state of motion, and it is believed that resting for even a little while will leave you behind in this fast-paced world. With a coffee bar at every corner, and the pressure of working 24/7, it is no wonder stress is such a terrible factor. The video at the beginning features two peacefully resting people, stress-free and innocent, against the calming backdrop of “Moonlight Sonata.” As “Suicide” appears on the screen, the music jumps to the hectic, hypnotizing sounds of The Beatles’ “Revolution 9,” along with images of the stressed and laboring, convincing the young to work or nothing will ever be done.