Apple Records was an experiment of idealism in 1968. On this date, Monday, August 26, 1968, Apple released its “First Four” Singles – Hey Jude/Revolution, Those Were The Days by Mary Hopkin, Sour Milk Sea by Jackie Lomax, and Thingumybob. A major record company could release hundreds of songs in a year and not have the success of this new upstart company. Three of these songs are true standards and truly loved by everyone. Derek Taylor even predicted Mary Hopkin’s vocal gem would become a standard at weddings forever!
But I wanted to write about Hey Jude today. I was a waiter at Kutsher’s Country Club, Monticello, NY, and usually napped after breakfast (with my radio on, of course). I was half asleep when the song came on. It was a Twilight Zone moment. I was in and out of sleep and the song seemed like it was going for an hour! I could barely get my head around what I had just heard. I knew it was a new Beatles song of course, but how long was it on for? After lunch I rushed back to wait for it again (did not have to wait long at all!) It really hit me like a ton of bricks. I was totally amazed and knocked out by it. Two weeks later, it shot right up to #2 on WABC in NYC. Cousin Brucie said the switchboard was overloaded with fans yelling why it wasn’t #1. He apologized on air for it. It was Number One for the next two months, knocked out of the top slot by…you guessed it… Those Were The Days. To me it was much more than a single. It was like an entire album in one song. I was late to many of my classes in my senior year at Adelphi U. I just couldn’t turn the song off the radio while Hey Jude played, even thought I had the single on my turntable until the White Album came out 3 months later. And the ‘b side’ (Revolution) was not too shabby. Paul and John were at the height of their creativity. Hey Jude is my favorite song of all time and it usually ends up at #2 in the Classic rock fan voting for Greatest Song Ever (Stairway to Heaven has that honor, but not in my book). 50 years later, I still never, ever get tired of hearing it. I imagine I never will…na na na nanana na.
Peace and Love,
Mark
