Honestly, if you look at the tracklist for the 1970 release of the Beatles’ Hey Jude, it makes absolutely no sense. None. You’ve got "Can’t Buy Me Love" from the early Mop-top era sitting right next to "Old Brown Shoe," a gritty 1969 B-side. It’s a sonic whiplash. One minute you're in 1964 screaming at a black-and-white TV, and the next, you're in the thick of the Abbey Road sessions.
But here’s the thing. Despite being a "Frankenstein" project, the songs on hey jude album created one of the most essential listening experiences for North American fans. It filled a massive hole in the Beatles’ discography that Capitol Records had basically ignored for years.
The Weird History of a "Non-Album" Album
Before we get into the tunes, we have to talk about why this thing even exists. It wasn’t a creative statement by John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Actually, by the time it hit shelves in February 1970, the band was essentially over.
Allen Klein, their famously aggressive manager at the time, wanted to squeeze more money out of the catalog. He realized that a bunch of the band's biggest hits—singles like "Paperback Writer" and "Lady Madonna"—had never actually appeared on a proper LP in the United States.
The project was originally called The Beatles Again. If you find an old vinyl where the label says The Beatles Again but the spine says Hey Jude, you’re holding a piece of history. They changed the name last minute to capitalize on the title track’s insane success. It was a business move, pure and simple. Yet, somehow, it worked.
Breaking Down the Tracklist
Let’s look at what we actually get here. The album is ten songs long. It’s short, punchy, and weirdly effective.
Side One: The Time Machine
The first side is a total trip. It starts with "Can't Buy Me Love" and "I Should Have Known Better." Why? These were already on the United Artists soundtrack for A Hard Day's Night, but Capitol didn't have them on a "regular" album.
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Then, the mood shifts. Hard.
- Paperback Writer (1966): Paul’s boosty bass line here is legendary. This was the start of them getting really loud.
- Rain (1966): This is widely considered one of the best B-sides in history. Ringo’s drumming is off the charts. It’s psychedelic, sludgy, and perfect.
- Lady Madonna (1968): A return to that boogie-woogie piano sound.
- Revolution (1968): The fast, distorted version. This is the one where John Lennon sounds like he’s trying to set his guitar on fire.
Side Two: The Late-Era Masterpieces
This is where the songs on hey jude album really earn their keep. Side two is essentially a "Best of 1968-1969" collection of stuff that didn't fit on the White Album or Abbey Road.
- Hey Jude: The big one. Over seven minutes long. It was the first song released on their Apple label.
- Old Brown Shoe: A George Harrison sleeper hit. It’s got a weird, shuffling bass line (that George actually played himself) and some of his best vocals.
- Don’t Let Me Down: John’s raw, pleading love song to Yoko. This version is the studio take, not the rooftop concert version you see in Get Back.
- The Ballad of John and Yoko: A snapshot of John and Yoko’s wedding and honeymoon. Fun fact: only Paul and John are on this track. George was on holiday and Ringo was filming a movie, so Paul played drums and bass while John handled the guitars.
Why "Rain" and "Revolution" Changed Everything
You can't talk about the songs on hey jude album without mentioning the stereo mixes. For a lot of fans in 1970, this was the first time they heard songs like "Rain" or "Paperback Writer" in true stereo.
"Rain" is a particular standout. It was recorded during the Revolver sessions, and it features some of the first uses of backmasked (reversed) vocals in pop music. When you hear it on this album, the separation between the heavy bass and the shimmering cymbals is incredible. It makes you realize just how far ahead of their time they were.
Then you have "Revolution." This isn't the slow, acoustic "Revolution 1" from the White Album. This is the single version. It’s loud, it’s political, and it’s arguably the heaviest the Beatles ever got. Placing it on an album alongside "Lady Madonna" shows the range they were hitting in 1968.
The "Missing" Songs
Is it perfect? No. Hardcore collectors always complain about what was left off. For instance, "The Inner Light" (the B-side to "Lady Madonna") is nowhere to be found. Neither is "I'm Down" or the German versions of "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand."
Allan Steckler, the guy who compiled the tracks, basically picked the "coolest" recent songs that hadn't been on an American LP yet. It wasn't meant to be a complete historical record. It was meant to be a great listen.
Why It Still Matters
For a long time, the Hey Jude album was ignored by historians because it wasn't a "UK original." When the Beatles' catalog was standardized on CD in 1987, this album was deleted. The songs were moved to the Past Masters collections instead.
But for a generation of fans, this was the Beatles. The cover—taken at Tittenhurst Park during their final photo shoot—is haunting. They look tired. They look like four guys who are ready to be done. John has the long hair and the hat; George looks slightly annoyed; Paul is trying to keep a straight face.
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It captures the end of an era.
If you’re looking to dive into the songs on hey jude album today, your best bet is to find an original vinyl pressing or check out the 2014 The U.S. Albums box set. There’s something about the sequence—going from the innocence of 1964 to the heavy reality of 1969 in just forty minutes—that tells the story of the 1960s better than any documentary ever could.
To get the full experience, listen to "Rain" on a good pair of headphones and pay attention to the bass. It'll change how you think about 1966. After that, compare the studio version of "Don't Let Me Down" on this album to the version on the Let It Be naked sessions; the differences in John's vocal delivery are pretty striking.