As the Beatles matured, so did their songs, and they started to tell more authentic stories. For example, on Rubber Soul, John Lennon tells the story of an affair he was conducting with a girl named “Polythene Pam” (a nickname for Pat Hodgetts, who used to watch the band from the Cavern Club in Liverpool).
In a similar vein, Paul McCartney wrote "Hey Jude" to comfort his wife Cynthia and their son Julian after they split up in 1968. The song’s line “Don’t make it bad, take a bad song and make it better” is an exhortation to little Julian to pull through the separation.
But there’s also a darker side to the song that’s easy to miss. On the album version, produced by Phil Spector, George Harrison’s brash guitar solo makes brief appearances.
The single edition features a different softer guitar solo and orchestral section, mixed low, compared to the version on the album. The song reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in many countries, was ranked #8 on Rolling Stone magazine’s 2004 list of 500 Greatest Songs and is a favorite among Beatles fans worldwide.
Let It Be was released as the last single by the Beatles before their break-up in 1970, and is considered a classic. The single version peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, and was a top ten hit in several other countries.
