{"id":4197,"date":"2026-07-23T11:23:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T15:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.songfacts.com\/articles\/?p=4197"},"modified":"2026-07-23T11:23:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T15:23:01","slug":"the-comforting-and-supportive-meaning-behind-hey-jude-by-the-beatles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.songfacts.com\/articles\/the-comforting-and-supportive-meaning-behind-hey-jude-by-the-beatles\/","title":{"rendered":"The Comforting and Supportive Meaning Behind \u201cHey Jude\u201d by The Beatles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Beatles released “Hey Jude”<\/a> in 1968 as the first single on their own label, Apple Records, and the song became a huge hit. It was the best-selling single in UK, the US, Australia, and Canada and has sold over eight million copies worldwide. With a runtime of seven minutes and 11 seconds, it was the longest single ever released at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Hey Jude” came at a tumultuous time for both the band and John Lennon personally. He had just life his wife, Cynthia Powell, and Paul McCartney wrote “Hey Jude” as a way to comfort the couple’s young son, Julian, who was five years old at the time. Although McCartney wrote all of the lyrics, the song is still credited to Lennon-McCartney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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