Hey Jude topped the charts in Britain for two weeks and for 9 weeks in America, where it became The Beatles longest-running No.1 in the US singles chart as well as the single with the longest running time. You can watch a lyrics version here.

The Beatles did not record their promotional film until Hey Jude had been on sale in America for a week. They returned to Twickenham Film Studio, using director Michael Lindsay-Hogg who had worked with them on Paperback Writer and Rain. Earlier still, Lindsay-Hogg had directed episodes of Ready Steady Go! And a few months after the film for Hey Jude he made The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus TV special that featured John and Yoko but wouldn’t be shown until 1996 To help with the filming an audience of around 300 local people, as well as some of the fans that gathered regularly outside Abbey Road Studios were brought in for the song’s finale. Their presence had an unlikely upside for The Beatles in their long-running saga with the Musicians’ Union in that the MU were fooled into believing the band were playing live, when in fact they were miming for the vast majority of the song. Paul, however, sang live throughout the song.

The video was first broadcast on David Frost’s Frost On Sunday show, four days after it was filmed. At that point transmission was in black and white although the promo was originally shot in colour. It was first aired in America a month later on 6 October 1968, on The Smotheres Brothers Comedy Hour.

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

Nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah nah

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

Nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah nah yeah

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... oh!

Nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah, nah, nah nah,
Hey, Jude
Nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah, nah, nah nah,
Hey, Jude
Nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah, nah, nah nah,
Hey, Jude (Jude)
Nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah, nah, nah nah,
Hey, Jude (yeah, yeah, yeah)
Nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah, nah, nah nah,
Hey, Jude
Nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah, nah, nah nah,
Hey, Jude (don't make it bad, Jude)
Nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah, nah, nah nah,
Hey, Jude (take a sad song and make it better)
Nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah, nah, nah nah,
Hey, Jude (oh, Jude)
Nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah, nah, nah nah,
Hey, Jude (Jude, hey, Jude, whoa)
Nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah, nah, nah nah,
Hey, Jude
Nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah, nah, nah nah,
Hey, Jude (ooh)
Nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah, nah, nah nah,
Hey, Jude
Nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah, nah, nah nah,
Hey, Jude
Nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah, nah, nah nah,
Hey, Jude
Nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah, nah, nah nah,
Hey, Jude
Nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah, nah, nah nah,
Hey, Jude [fade out]

JUDE= A man's name.

HER= A personification of the "sad song" mentioned before? Yoko Ono? (see the Meaning tab)

HEART= /hɑ:*t/ see picture.

THE MINUTE= As soon as; when...

UNDER YOUR SKIN= If you have someone under your skin, you have them in your heart, you love them very much.

ANYTIME= At any time, whenever.

REFRAIN= To control yourself and stop yoursefl from doing something.

DON'T CARRY THE WORLD UPON YOUR SHOULDERS= Don't feel guilty about everything, it's not your fault, relax.

FOR= Because.

TO PLAY IT COOL= To make an effort to be or appear to be calm and unemotional.

PERFORM= To do.

THE MOVEMENT YOU NEED IS ON YOUR SHOULDERS=  Earlier in the song we get this line: Don't carry the world upon your shoulders. I believe "the movement you need is on your shoulder" is a shrug. McCartney is advising the young Lennon to not carry the weight of the world - and the divorce and the legacy - on his shoulders; he should just shrug it all off and live his own life.

Paul McCartney said that he wrote the song for John Lennon's son Julian. John abandoned the five-year old and his mother, Cynthia, when Yoko Ono entered the picture. And McCartney, knowing that things were hard for John's former wife and son, decided to pay a visit. On the way there, he wrote a little song intended to cheer up the young Julian: "Hey Jules, don't make it bad, Take a sad song and make it better." He later changed it for "Hey Jude" because it sounded better.

The obvious meaning of the song is that he's giving advice about how to conquer a girl, but considering the original inspiration as confessed by Paul McCartney (to bring comfort to a 5-year-old boy), the girl-stuff is out, and that "her" he talks about is probably a personification of the sad song he is talking about, and once again, the sad song is a metaphor for the painful situation the little boy was going through. Or... it's a reference to Yoko Ono, his nes "mum".

In 1987 Julian ran into Paul in New York City when they were staying at the same hotel and he finally heard Paul tell him the story of the song firsthand. He admitted to Paul that growing up, he'd always felt closer to him than to his own father. In Steve Turner's book The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song, Julian said: "Paul told me he'd been thinking about my circumstances, about what I was going through and what I'd have to go through. Paul and I used to hang out quite a bit - more than Dad and I did... There seem to be far more pictures of me and Paul playing at that age than me and Dad. I've never really wanted to know the truth of how Dad was and how he was with me. There was some very negative stuff - like when he said that I'd come out of a whisky bottle on a Saturday night. That's tough to deal with. You think, where's the love in that? It surprises me whenever I hear the song. It's strange to think someone has written a song about you. It still touches me."

When McCartney played this song for John Lennon and Yoko Ono, John interpreted it as being about him; he heard the line "You were made to go out and get her" as Paul imploring him to leave his first wife and go after Yoko ("I always heard it as a song to me," said Lennon). This was one of Lennon's more narcissistic moments, as he failed to grasp that the song was written for his son.

This is a possible interpretation of the meaning of these lyrics:

Alright. Well first off, this song was written for julian lennon during John and cynthia's divorce. Definitely not heroine.
"hey jude, don't make it bad"-don't make the seperation harder than it has to be.
"remember to let her into your heart, then you can start to make it better"-accept yoko, you may start to feel better.
"and any time you feel the pain, hey, jude, refrain
don't carry the world upon your shoulders"-possibly not to put the pressure onto yourself, the divorce isn't your fault.
"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"-let your feelings out, and try to welcome yoko.
You think someone is going to speak for you, but it's you that needs to make the decision to accept her...

Anyway, just what I think.