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.
