{"id":291675,"date":"2025-11-14T19:04:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T19:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/291675\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T19:04:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T19:04:12","slug":"the-day-paul-mccartney-almost-cut-one-of-the-greatest-beatles-lines-and-who-saved-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/291675\/","title":{"rendered":"The Day Paul McCartney Almost Cut One of the Greatest Beatles Lines\u2014and Who Saved It"},"content":{"rendered":"

We often need others to validate our creations. It\u2019s hard to see through any misplaced confidence or self-loathing enough to have an objective point of view. Many artists have nearly scrapped a song or a line that ended up being one of their most iconic efforts, for fear it wouldn\u2019t be any good. Even a songwriter as celebrated as Paul McCartney<\/a> has fallen into this trap a time or two. There was one moment in particular wherein McCartney almost cut one of his most famous lines, until John Lennon talked him out of it.<\/p>\n

The Iconic Line Paul McCartney Nearly Cut<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a performer, you\u2019re often thinking, \u2018Is this any good? Is this rubbish? Is this a clich\u00e9?\u201d McCartney once said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe that someone with such a stellar track record could feel insecure about his talents, but it\u2019s also comforting. Even McCartney needs a confidence boost from time to time.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time you write a song, you\u2019re going, \u2018This is crap. This is terrible. Come on,\u2019\u201d McCartney added elsewhere<\/a>. \u201cSo I kick myself and say, \u2018Get it better. If it\u2019s terrible, get it better.\u2019 And sometimes someone will come along, someone who you respect, and say, \u2018No, that\u2019s great. Don\u2019t worry about that,\u2019 and then show you a side to it that you didn\u2019t notice and, then you\u2019ll go, \u2018Oh, yeah.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHey Jude\u201d<\/p>\n

A famous example of this comes from the first time McCartney played \u201cHey Jude\u201d for John Lennon. It was an early version of the song, and McCartney hadn\u2019t worked out all the lyrics yet. There was one line in particular that was never meant to be more than a placeholder, but Lennon had other ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was playing \u2018Hey Jude\u2019 to John,\u201d McCartney added in the same interview, \u201cI said, \u2018The movement you need is on your shoulder.\u2019 I turned round to him and Yoko [Ono], who was standing behind me, and said, \u2018Don\u2019t worry, I\u2019ll fix that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd John said, \u2018No, you won\u2019t. That\u2019s the best line in it,\u201d he continued. \u201cWhen someone\u2019s that firm about a line that you\u2019re going to junk, and he said, \u2018No, keep it in,\u2019 so, of course, you love that line twice as much because it\u2019s a little stray, it\u2019s a little mutt that you were about to put down and it was reprieved and so it\u2019s more beautiful than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given how correct that lyric is for the song, you would never guess McCartney had second thoughts about it. Luckily, Lennon talked some sense into him, and the world was gifted this one-in-a-generation track.<\/p>\n

(Photo by Central Press\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n