The Beatles split up in 1970, but the members eventually rebuilt their bridges and became friends once again. Paul McCartney and John Lennon were the oldest friends in the band, having grown up together in Liverpool in the 1950s. So then, when Lennon was murdered in 1980, McCartney was utterly crushed. The former Fab Four star remembered his best pal fondly two years after Lennon’s death in 1982 when he appeared on Desert Island Discs.
The BBC show invited artists to pick their favourite songs and records to take on a desert island with them. When McCartney attended, he included such massive hits as Chuck Berry’s Sweet Little Sixteen, Gene Vincent’s Be-Bop-A-Lula and Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel.
However, the Hey Jude singer finished off his collection with a song from his friend, Lennon. Fighting back tears, he told host Roy Plomley: “Okay, well, this one… I haven’t chosen any Beatles records. But if we had had more than eight, I probably would have. I haven’t chosen any of my records.”
With a deep breath, he went on to introduce his final song choice of the show.
In the footage – which can be seen below – McCartney can be seen visibly moved by the lyrics of the heartfelt track.
As Lennon croons the opening lyrics: “Close your eyes / Have no fear / The monster’s gone / He’s on the run and your daddy’s here,” McCartney is absolutely crushed by the memories of losing his best friend.
McCartney always had a strong connection with Lennon’s children, as well. Hey famously wrote Hey Jude for Lennon’s first son, Julian Lennon, back in 1968.
At the time, Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia Lennon, were going through a divorce. In an attempt to make Julian feel better about his parents splitting up, he penned the child a song.
McCartney looked back: “I started with the idea ‘Hey Jules,’ which was Julian, don’t make it bad, take a sad song and make it better. Hey, try and deal with this terrible thing. I knew it was not going to be easy for him. I always feel sorry for kids in divorces.”
Lennon later mused that McCartney was actually using the song to speak directly to him.
“If you think about it,” Lennon said. “Yoko’s just come into the picture. [McCartney] is saying: ‘Hey, Jude – Hey, John.’ I know I’m sounding like one of those fans who reads things into it, but you can hear it as a song to me. The words ‘go out and get her’ – subconsciously he was saying, Go ahead, leave me. On a conscious level, he didn’t want me to go ahead.”
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