The Beatles performed ‘Hey Jude’ on the UK television show ‘Frost On Sunday’ in front of an invited audience, today in 1968.
The Beatles filmed the promotional clips on September 4, 1968, for ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Revolution’ at Twickenham Film Studios, debuting on Frost On Sunday in the United Kingdom on 8 September 1968, surrounded by members of the studio audience.
The Beatles broke into an impromptu rendition of Elvis Presley’s ‘It’s Now Or Never’. They edited it out of the broadcast. A 36-piece orchestra was also assembled, the members wearing white tuxedos, and 300 extras for the finale. They recruited 20 students to hand out leaflets in the area, and The Beatles’ assistant Mal Evans invited several fans from outside EMI Studios.
This first single released from The Beatles‘ record label Apple Records on August 26, 1968, took over the airways with the band making a remarkable career comeback. The song length is at over seven minutes, and then the longest single ever to top the British charts. It also spent nine weeks as No.1 in the United States—the longest run at the top of the American charts for a Beatles’ single.
The impact was so great that it only took three weeks for it to reach #1 on the U.S. Billboard singles chart and stayed there for a remarkable nine weeks, becoming the most successful American single of their career.
It also ranked as the most popular record of the sixties, according to Billboard Magazine.
Paul McCartney got the idea for the song on an impromptu drive to see Cynthia and Julian Lennon after John’s divorce. They completed the song in collaboration with John Lennon in Paul’s home in Cavendish, London.
John and Yoko came to visit and listened to Paul play the song whilst standing behind him, over his right shoulder. When he got to the line ‘The movement you need is on your shoulder’ he said he was going to remove it. Paul didn’t like the line and went to cross it out, yet John imploded, “You won’t, you know. That’s the best line in it!”.
