All You Need Is Love by Peter Brown

Author:Peter Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

Peter Brown on “Hey Jude”

When Brian was alive, he hardly ever went to the studio, which he considered the boys’ domain, even though the Beatles were always eager to let him hear what they were working on and ask for his advice. But Brian was gone, and it was highly unusual when late one Friday afternoon in July of 1968, Paul phoned me in the office and invited me to the studio to hear a new track they had just finished. He and John were nearby at Trident Studios in Soho, and they were thinking about putting the song on their next album—what would become known as the White Album, or perhaps they should release it as a single, the very first single on Apple Records. They were hesitant because it was long, seven minutes, too long for radio airplay. It was a song Paul had written for John and Cynthia’s son, Julian, telling him not to be sad because of his parents’ divorce, but he had changed the name from “Hey Julian” to “Hey Jude.” Paul and John wanted me to give them my honest opinion about it.

Trident Studios was outfitted with an eight-track recorder, and “Hey Jude” was the first song they recorded on eight tracks. It’s hard to believe that all the music the Beatles had created up until then at the EMI studios on Abbey Road was on a four-track recorder.* I walked over to Trident Studios from my office, wondering what I could say to John and Paul if I didn’t like it. When I arrived, they sat me in a leather armchair in the control room and rolled the tape. The song brought tears to my eyes. The long, building, repeating coda was like a prayer, the melody was mesmerizing. I wanted to sing it over and over. It could never go on for too long.

“It’s just beautiful,” I said to them. “It doesn’t matter how long it is. It’s a masterpiece exactly as it is.”

John was in a very happy mood when he asked, “Why don’t we all have dinner and celebrate?”

I said I already had plans to have dinner with my close friend, Tommy Nutter, the men’s clothing designer. Tommy was a big name in London’s fashion scene, and Paul and John knew him well. Paul suggested I invite Tommy to the studio to hear their new song and then we would all go out to dinner together. When I rang, Tommy, who prided himself on being perverse, said he didn’t want to listen to a song or have dinner with the Beatles, he wanted us to go away for the weekend. Paul could tell I was having a difficult time and took the phone away from me and said, “Hi, Tommy! This is Paul! We’re so excited about this new song! We want you to come over and listen to it and tell us what you think!”

Well, even Tommy couldn’t turn down a command performance like that. When he grudgingly arrived at the studio, he sat in the same leather chair as I did and listened quietly to the song.

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