Fifty years ago (April 10, 1970), the Beatles officially split up. Their popularity, however, has not waned. At an online auction last week, an ashtray used by Ringo Starr at Abbey Road Studios sold for $32,500 and a drawing by John Lennon and Yoko Ono called Bagism sold for $93,750. The handwritten lyrics of the song Hey Jude sold for $910,000, nine times the pre-auction estimate. What was the Jewish connection to that song?
Hey Jude/Revolution by Richard Bartlaga is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.
A. Paul McCartney originally wrote the Hey Jude ending as “la la la, la la la la…”, using the “la la” sound that was typical in pop music at that time. But as he refined the song, he remembered the Chassidic chants, or niggunim, that he heard at the bar mitzvah of Brian Epstein’s nephew, which included the “na na na” syllables, so McCartney changed the sounds at the end of Hey Jude to "Na na na, na na na na.”
B. Israeli peace activist Abie Nathan founded the Voice of Peace radio station in 1973, which broadcast from outside Israeli territorial waters on a boat, the “Peace Ship.” Nathan had purchased the boat with financial help from John Lennon. Hey Jude was the very first song ever broadcast on Voice of Peace radio.
C. When the Beatles traveled to India to study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Paul met Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, who was also visiting the Maharashi’s ashram to explore Eastern spirituality. Paul learned from Reb Zalman about the group of Breslover Chassidim known as the “Na Nachs,” who found spiritual meaning in the phrase Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman (referencing Rebbe Nachman). McCartney couldn’t pronounce the gutteral Hebrew letter Chet so he just said “Na Na Na Na, Hey Man” which he later incorporated into Hey Jude, singing “Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na, Na Na Na Na, Hey Jude.”
D. Paul McCartney wrote the song about Julian Lennon, John’s son, and the original title of the song was Hey Jules. But McCartney changed it to Hey Jude because he liked the sound more. When the Beatles put a sign reading Hey Jude in the window of their London Apple Boutique store, McCartney received an angry call from a Jewish man named Mr. Leon who said, “How dare you do this!” He and many Jews thought this was an offensive slur, based on the German translation of Jew as Jude.
E. Until the release of the song Hey Jude, cantors in Reform and Conservative synagogues had sung Adon Olam to the tune of every pop song ever written. However, no cantor has ever managed to successfully fit the words of Adon Olam into the Hey Jude melody.