Once upon a time, it was called “Hey Jules.”
Paul McCartney wrote “Hey Jude” for five year old Julian Lennon after visiting him and his mum, Cynthia Lennon after John left them for Yoko.
The song was meant to console Julian. John suggested the name change, and the nearly seven minute song was born. Released independent of an album, and never included on one, “Hey Jude” spent 7 weeks at number 1 in the fall of 1968. Radio stations played it unedited, which was a first.
Fifty two years later, McCartney’s handwritten lyrics have sold for $910,000 at Julien’s Auction house in Los Angeles. Will ever know who bought this sheet of paper? Was it McCartney himself? (I wouldn’t be surprised.) Will we ever see this in a museum exhibition?
I’d say nearly a million bucks was worth it. McCartney took a sad song and made it better.
And yes, it’s the 50th anniversary of the end of the Beatles. And the auction house is owned by a “Julien.” So it all fits together. (And it was just Julian Lennon’s birthday!)
Also in the auction, Ringo Starr and wife Barbara Bach made around $90,000 selling three promotional busts from the last photo sessions. One of them, of John Lennon, was used as a prop on the cover of “Sgt. Pepper.” Another was from the cover of the American “Hey Jude” album.
