Recording "Hey Jude"

After two days of rehearsals and initial recordings of “Hey Jude” at Abbey Road, The Beatles moved to Trident Studios to utilize its eight-track recording technology and worked on a remake of the track. On their second day at Trident, they completed the recording of “Hey Jude.“

Between 5 pm and 8 pm, The Beatles added multiple overdubs onto Take 1. Paul McCartney recorded his bass part and re-did his lead vocals, while John Lennon provided harmony vocals. All four Beatles then added two tracks of backing vocals and handclaps, with Ringo Starr contributing tambourine. John and George Harrison also recorded some electric guitar overdubs.

From 8 pm to 11 am, they recorded a 36-member orchestra, comprising 10 violins, 3 violas, 3 cellos, 2 flutes, 2 double basses, 1 contrabassoon, 1 bassoon, 2 clarinets, 1 contrabass clarinet, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, 2 French horns, and 1 percussionist. Except for cellist Bobby Kok and flutist Bill Jackman, the musicians’ names remain unknown.

All the orchestra members but one joined in handclapping and backing vocals, likely encouraged by the offer of double their usual fee.

With the recording over, the mixing of the song started the following day.

[…] On Thursday, August 1, we imported a 40-piece orchestra, the largest group of accompaniment musicians we’d used since the Beatles did “A Day In The Life” for “Sgt. Pepper” well over a year ago. As you all know by now “Hey Jude” starts out as a plaintive ballad with Paul’s voice well up in front of a fairly simple backing. Then the arrangement begins to build up towards an exciting cimax. That’s where the big orchestra came in. Mostly they just held single notes for long periods to underline and emphasise the whole atmosphere of the recording.

TOWARDS THE END OF THE EVENING WE DECIDED TO MAKE DOUBLE USE OF THE 40 MUSICIANS BY ASKING THEM IF THEY’D LIKE TO DO A BIT OF SINGING AND CLAP THEIR HANDS. THEY WERE QUITE PLEASED TO OBLIGE AND THE ENTIRE ORCHESTRA STOOD UP, CLAPPED AND SANG THEIR “LA-LA-LA” BITS UNDER PAUL’S CLOSE SUPERVISION.

So “Hey Jude” was finished that night at the end of a highly spectacular session. […]

Mal Evans – From The Beatles Monthly Book, September 1968, N°62

The studio at Trident was long and narrow. When we did the orchestral overdub we had to put the trombones at the very front so that they didn’t poke anyone in the back!

Chris Thomas – George Martin’s assistant – From “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” by Mark Lewisohn, 1988

We just played the refrain over and over, the repeated riff which plays in the long fade-out.

Bill Jackman – From “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” by Mark Lewisohn, 1988

The only time we have had real objections from an orchestra was during the recording of ‘Hey Jude,’ the biggest-selling single of all. I wanted them to sing and clap their hands as well as play, and one man walked out. ‘I’m not going to clap my hands and sing Paul McCartney’s bloody song,’ he said, in spite of the fact that he was getting double rates for his trouble.

George Martin – From “All You Need Is Ears“, 1979

It was obviously a Paul song, and we actually recorded it with Paul sitting at a piano, singing as he played. Then we overdubbed this fairly large orchestra and we got about forty musicians in the studio, playing their instruments, and, somewhat reluctantly, we also got them singing on the end, because we wanted this general big noise. I don’t think they liked doing it very much. In fact, one of them asked me for a special fee afterwards, which I think he got. ‘Hey Jude’ worked out a very satisfactory record and, in fact, became one of the biggest single sellers that we ever had.

George Martin – From “The Beatles: Off the Record” by Keith Badman, 2008

Chris O’Dell, who was a personal assistant at the Beatles’ Apple Corps Ltd., was present in the studio and also contributed backing vocals to “Hey Jude“:

I spent a lot of time that summer at Trident Studios, where I was booking sessions for Billy Preston, Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, the Iveys (who later changed their name to Badfinger), and other Apple artists. […]

I was in the studio on August 1, 1968, the night the Beatles put the final touches on “Hey Jude.” The master track had been recorded the day before, and they were adding overdubs, including backup vocals and the song’s long refrain played by a thirty-six-piece orchestra. The studio was packed full of musicians with their violins, violas, cellos, bassoons, trumpets, trombones, drums, cymbals, you name it.

As usual I was sitting on a couch just in front of the control board, nursing a drink (it was going to be a long night) and watching all the activity below, when Paul came bounding up the stairs.

“How’s it sound?” he asked George Martin, the producer. George always amazed me because he was twenty years older than most of us, classically trained, almost always dressed in a suit and tie. And yet no one understood the heart and soul of the Beatles music better than he did. I considered him a father figure, a patient, pragmatic, kind, and gentle man who was always ready with an endearing smile and a hearty chuckle.

“Yes, I really do think we’ve got what we were looking for here,” George said as he leaned back in his chair behind the console, arms above his head in a stretch.

“Okay, let’s get on with the vocals then,” Paul said as he headed out the door. Suddenly he turned around and motioned to me.

“Come on, Chris, you can help,” he said. “We need as many voices as we can get.”

Sing on a Beatles track? The thought sent a little thrill of fear through me. I couldn’t sing on key, or so I had convinced myself over the years, and the thought of being caught on tape and embarrassing myself in front of George Martin and all the Beatles unnerved me. I wanted to disappear into thin air and return a few hours later when it was all wrapped up and I could listen in peace to the playback. But I was caught. Paul had asked me to join in and he was the boss.

I stood at the microphones with the Beatles and perhaps thirty members of the orchestra, clapping my hands and singing along with the refrain.

Terrified that I’d sing out of tune and ruin the recording, I started off pretending to sing and just mouthing the words, but as we all clapped and swayed, our separate voices soon blending into one resounding chorus, my fears disappeared. With my eyes focused on Paul, the skilled conductor leading the troops, his hands swooping in circles, the look of joy on his face mirrored on the faces of all the rest of us, I sang my heart out.

Chris O’Dell – From “Miss O’Dell: My Hard Days and Long Nights with The Beatles, The Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and the Women They Loved“, 2009

Session activities

1. Hey Jude

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • SI onto take 1

Staff

Musicians on "Hey Jude"

Production staff

Going further

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