When you think of the Beatles’ discography, so many classic songs feel untouchable, almost impossible to imagine sounding any other way. But even the band’s biggest hits had moments of uncertainty behind the scenes.

One of those moments happened when Paul McCartney was writing a song that would go on to top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for nine consecutive weeks in 1968 and become the year’s best-selling single.

“Hey Jude,” widely considered one of the Beatles’ greatest hits, could have sounded different from the version fans know and love today. McCartney has explained that, at the time, he was struggling with self-doubt.

“Any time you write a song, you’re going, ‘This is crap. This is terrible. Come on,’” McCartney told GQ in 2020. To push through, he explained, he would kick himself to improve it.

“If it’s terrible, get it better,” but that approach didn’t always work on its own. What often helped was getting perspective from people he trusted.

“Sometimes someone will come along, someone who you respect, and say, ‘No, that’s great. Don’t worry about that,’ and then show you a side to it that you didn’t notice and, then you’ll go, ‘Oh, yeah,’” he explained.

For “Hey Jude,” that someone was John Lennon.

At the time, McCartney hadn’t finished the lyrics. There was a line he considered temporary, a placeholder he thought he might replace later. But Lennon saw something special in it.

“When I was playing ‘Hey Jude’ to John,” McCartney recalled, “I said, ‘The movement you need is on your shoulder.’ I turned round to him and Yoko [Ono], who was standing behind me, and said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll fix that.’”

John, however, was adamant. “And John said, ‘No, you won’t. That’s the best line in it,” he continued. “When someone’s that firm about a line that you’re going to junk, and he said, ‘No, keep it in,’ so, of course, you love that line twice as much because it’s a little stray, it’s a little mutt that you were about to put down and it was reprieved and so it’s more beautiful than ever.”

Thanks to Lennon’s insight, what could have been a small, forgotten line became one of the song’s most memorable moments.

This story was originally reported by Parade on Nov 14, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.