John Lennon’s Son Julian Says He Is Thankful To Paul McCartney For Writing ‘Hey Jude’

During a recent episode of the SiriusXM radio show Debatable, John Lennon’s son, Julian, revealed that he is grateful to Paul McCartney for writing ‘Hey Jude’ and giving him some hope for the things to come.

Released as a non-album single in August 1968, ‘Hey Jude’ was written by Paul McCartney. The song quickly became a hit in many countries. It frequently finds itself a place in various lists of the greatest songs of all time. McCartney wrote the track during a turbulent time in the Beatles’ career. John Lennon had just left his first wife, Cynthia, to be with Yoko Ono.

Thus, Paul McCartney wrote the song to comfort Lennon’s son, Julian, whose parents were undergoing a divorce. McCartney was concerned about how the young boy would be dealing with the situation, so he wanted to strengthen him with the encouraging words of the song. The track’s original title was ‘Hey Jules,‘ which is the short form for Julian.

During a recent conversation, Julian Lennon opened up about his relationship with ‘Hey Jude,’ inspiring his new album, ‘Jude,’ which will arrive in late 2022. He used to have a love-hate relationship with the song since it reminded him of his parent’s divorce, but his thoughts changed when he could re-explore it while working on his new album.

Looking at it from a new perspective today, Julian Lennon feels thankful to Paul McCartney for writing this powerful song and giving him some hope for the following events. However, it is still a reminder of his parents’ separation, but at least he made peace with the track. Julian also said that watching the documentary ‘The Beatles: Get Back’ reminded him of how much he loved his late father and the good memories they shared.

Julian Lennon speaking on his relationship with the song:

I am thankful to Paul for writing it and putting some hope behind what was to come.  But the downside of it was it was a dark reminder of what actually went down at the time, the separation. After watching the documentary, there was so much pride in seeing dad the way I used to know him as a kid, remembering him and seeing him being a goofy bugger but also being such a great writer, performer, and singer. It reminded me how much love I actually had for him. It just brought a lot of memories up.”

You can listen to ‘Hey Jude’ below.