A mighty big hit for
the Beatles, it went to #1 on both sides of the Atlantic. It spent a record number of weeks on top of America's
Billboard, a record that was equaled by "Every Breath You Take" by The Police. A
classic.
1. When I was in military recruit training ("boot camp") I was assigned to
Junior Officer Of the Deck (JOOD) watchstanding security duty. I wore a yellow armband on my left shirt sleeve that said "JOOD". Every hour I'd tour the building to ensure that all was "secure". I entered my company's barrack room and one of my fellow company mates was standing next to a
bunk singing "
Hey JOOD. Don'
t be afraid. Take a sad song and make it better. Remember...". When I got to a compartment on the third floor a recruit shouted, "Hey look, fellas! It's the JOOD!" The whole company broke into singing "
Hey Jude" (
Hey JOOD, get it?). When I was back on the Quarterdeck on the first floor, you could hear the singing continuing on: ... bettah, bettah, bettah, bettah, bettah, bettah, yeaaaaah! Da da da da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da,
hey, Jude!...". Recruit training isn'
t much fun for anyone, but this was pretty amusing.
2. I saw Sir Paul McCartney on Saturday Night Live on TV perform "
Hey Jude".
People in the audience screamed their heads off. One
time when Paul was singing the vocals for this song in the studio (or maybe during a Beatles TV performance) he screamed so intensely he passed out. He didn'
t konk out when performing on SNL that night.
