Fab Foundations # 6: “A Concise Sacrifice”

(Personal reflections inspired by Beatles songs)

Song: “Hey Jude”
Album: Released as a single
Release Date: August 1968

One aspect of the Beatles story that so many of us fans find uniquely compelling is their breakup. No other band’s demise even comes close.  The Who breakup in the 80s was just depressing.  Led Zeppelin’s was understandable (John Bonham’s death). The Rolling Stones quarreled in the mid 80’s and came close to splitting, which had a little more intrigue than how it went down with the Who and Zep (anytime Keith Richards gets angry, things get interesting).  Simon and Garfunkel, the Kinks, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and the Band all have their unique parting-of-ways stories. So too many other groups.  But none of these tales holds a candle to the Beatles dissolution.

There are many reasons for this special interest, not the least being that the Beatles broke up at a time when they were still at their creative peak, prompting the question, what would have happened had they stayed together?  Another big reason is that the Beatles broke up at the very tail end of the 60s. Their story is well framed by that turbulent decade, which framed so many other big-ticket items, from assassinations, to war, to civil rights, to flower power, to campus take-overs, to hippies, to Monterey, to Woodstock, to Altamont.  Indeed, the demarcation between 1969 and 1970 feels far more historical than Y2K. The Beatles calling it quits was a big piece of that.

For those of us who take in all things Beatles, from books to documentaries, the band’s breakup had a certain inevitability about it not long after Sgt. Pepper was released in 1967. You can read the tea leaves from that point on.  The “Get Back” sessions in 1969, which were filmed (and ultimately released as Let It Be), are enough to come to that conclusion, but there were plenty of clues in the music prior to that downer film, including the entirely of the solo-artist feel of 1968’s White Album (see Fab Foundations # 4). Later, Paul McCartney’s plea-of-a-song “Oh Darling” - which I interpret as an appeal directed at John Lennon – was another indication that the band was splitting apart.  And the medley of songs on side 2 of the Beatles last studio album Abbey Road, which appropriately concludes with the song “The End” (and more specifically the brilliant closing line “and in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love…. you make”) is transcendent in this regard of closure. 

For me though, the most compelling piece of the Beatles breakup story is Paul McCartney’s song “Hey Jude”, which may be the best song he ever wrote. The story goes that Paul came up with this song for John Lennon’s then 5-year old son Julian at the time when Julian’s parents, John and Cynthia, were getting divorced. I’m willing to run with this as being part of the narrative, but as I listen, and hear lyrics like “You have found her, now go and get her”, I think, ‘how could that be about young Julian’? 

No, there’s way more going on here, much deeper kinds of things. For, however knowingly his intentions, Paul McCartney would end up expressing a sentiment in “Hey Jude” that we rarely get to experience in the meaning of a song, never mind a legendery one.  It’s a sentiment of sacrifice; the act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy. Yes, in “Hey Jude”, I hear a man letting go of a cherished songwriting partnership, and in the process freeing up his partner for another “to perform with”, that person being Yoko Ono. John Lennon was falling for Ono big time; he was all in on every level, including the creative one. Knowing his bandmate well, McCartney could sense that soon there would not be enough room for both himself and Yoko at the heart of John’s artistic life.  That’s my take anyway.

In the ~ 400 page tome that is The Beatles Anthology - the definitive story of the band in their own words - the quote that resonated with me the most was the following one by George Harrison:

John and I had a very interesting relationship.  That I was younger, or I was smaller was no longer any embarrassment with John (by the mid-60s).  Paul still says, 'I suppose we looked down on George because he was younger', That is an illusion people are under.  It's nothing to do with how many years old you are or how big your body is.  It's down to what your greater consciousness is and if you can live in harmony with what's going on in creation.  John and I spent a lot of time together from then on and I felt closer to him than all the others, right through until his death.  As Yoko came into the picture, I lost a lot of personal contact with John, but on the odd occasion I did see him, just by the look in his eyes I felt we were connected."

This is spot on, but from my perspective, it does not cover the entirety of the deeper dynamics among band members. For although all four of the Beatles communicated best through their music, it was Paul McCartney who seemed to have the biggest gap between his musical expression and the spoken word (this is not to be confused with his ability to deal with fame, which was better than the others).  McCartney wasn’t horrible – in fact, compared to many people in the public eye, he was pretty darn good - he just was not as good as John, George and Ringo when it came to conveying depth of personality in non-melodic verbal communication.  Seeing as we the public get such great insight into the Beatles personalities without ever knowing them personally - through the sheer quantity of documented material - I’m guessing this was probably the case behind closed doors as well. McCartney’s musical expression made up for this gap, though.  Perhaps Beatle George did not factor this in.

“Hey Jude” was conceived not long after the Beatles returned home from their India retreat with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.  Seeing as John and George stuck it out the longest in Rishikesh, India, it’s always been inferred that those two got the most out of the experience. Yes, it’s pretty apparent that both of them grew significantly around this time in finding ways to express their personal gifts. George’s music grew by leaps and bounds spiritually. John would soon flourish as a troubadour for peace and made bold statements in his music about the power of women. I think Paul grew in wisdom from his India experience too, it’s just that the effect was not as singular or clairvoyant as with John and George. But if you listen to his musical output in 1968 and 1969 - “Blackbird”, “Mother Nature’s Son”, “Let It Be”, “The Long and Winding Road”, much of the medley on side 2 of Abbey Road, and “Hey Jude” among other gems, you just have to tip your cap and acknowledge this fact.

Another significant factor in all the magnificent output by Paul McCartney during this period was John Lennon himself.  Lennon challenged McCartney by being brutally honest, even cutting and jabbing at times.  In doing so, he was making it clear that there would be no free passes, no dwelling on former success stories, no resting on laurels.  It’s the type of challenge that could hurt someone deeply, and this certainly appeared to be the case with Paul (particularly after the band broke up). But McCartney rose to the challenge and – despite being in much more of a heavy environment than his personality was comfortable with – his musical output would prove to be broad and deep. I can relate to both sides of this story – Lennon’s and McCartney’s. I’ve been on both sides of that fence. It is pretty much a given with all the myriad of interrelationships we find ourselves engaged in in the course of our lives.

 “Hey Jude” was an amazingly classy and dignified musical statement. Although the song’s lyrics are about John Lennon, I believe they say more about Paul McCartney. In other words, I ask myself more about McCartney as I listen than I do about Lennon. What does it say about a person when they are willing to make such a significant sacrifice?  Quite a lot.  John Lennon knew the true meaning of the song right off and was very impressed (I did not realize this until many years after I came to the same conclusion).  Ultimately, the real barometer of a friendship is not so much how many fun times you have shared, it’s how much you are able to reveal your true self to that person.  Paul McCartney pulled this off with “Hey Jude”.

The Beatles performed “Hey Jude” on the telly in 1968 - with David Frost hosting - not long after the song was released. For any Beatles enthusiast who has not seen this, it is worth a viewing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_MjCqQoLLA ).  This was the first live performance by the Beatles in over a year. I love how, early in the video, Paul and George don’t even flinch at John’s antics (at the 19 second mark).  Also, there’s the interplay between Paul and John at the 2:47 mark. Priceless. This is about as serious as I’ve ever seen McCartney in a performance.  I also love the diversity of the audience that crowds in and sings along to the well-known closing refrain. It speaks to the spirit of the times.

Post breakup, Paul McCartney and John Lennon would take jabs at each other with biting lyrics in their respective songs “Too Many People” and “How do you Sleep”, among others.  There will be more on that part of the story in a future entry.  This week, I’m content to stick with the upside of the Beatles breakup, manifested in the magnificence that is “Hey Jude”.

- Pete