02. Yesterday (1965) / Help!

13/22 votes

 

Finishing as runner-up in these polls, with the most votes to eliminate a song so far, is 'Yesterday'! This very famous Beatles song was essentially the first solo performance from the band, as it's just Paul McCartney singing and playing the guitar, plus he's backed by a string quartet. Paul composed the entire melody of 'Yesterday' during a dream one night and was very confused when he woke up, thinking he must have plagiarised it from somewhere. He asked many different figures in the music industry if they'd heard this tune before but to no avail. So it was his. He made sure to remember the melody and initially wrote the silly lyrics "Scrambled eggs, oh my baby how I love your legs, not as much as I love scrambled eggs". These would eventually develop into the actual lyrics of 'Yesterday'. The ballad is about the break-up of a relationship, where he nostalgically looks back on when things were different. The final recording of 'Yesterday' was so different to anything that The Beatles had recorded up to then, to the point where the band members vetoed the release of it as a single in the United Kingdom. It wouldn't chart here until the 1970s. But it was released in the U.S. and of course got to #1 there! Despite the lack of release here, we did get it through the album 'Help!' and it has become a staple. In fact, it is one of the most covered songs of all time. A movie of the same name was released as recently as last year, where it depicts a world where The Beatles' music was erased from history. Congrats to 'Yesterday' for the silver medal!

 

 

01. Hey Jude (1968) / non-album single

9/22 votes

 

So that's it, we've reached the end :o 'Hey Jude' may have failed to win any of the Grammy Awards it was nominated for, but does get to be the champion of this survivor! It was a single back in 1968, with 'Revolution' as its B-side, as the first release on the Beatles' Apple Records label. It was a monster hit for the group - becoming the best selling single of 1968 in both the UK and the US. It peaked at #1 here for 2 weeks but spent a whopping 9 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100, the joint most for any song at the time. In the U.K. it also held a temporary record, as it was the longest chart topper to date ('Hey Jude' is 7:11 in length) until Meat Loaf came along with 41 more seconds of 'I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)' in the 1990s. 'Hey Jude' was written by Paul McCartney as a song to comfort John Lennon's son Julian about the break-up of his parents' marriage. The original title was 'Hey Jules' but Paul tweaked it as he felt that 'Hey Jude' sounded better. It's an interesting song structurally as the coda is longer than the rest of the song! The famous "na na na na na na na" fade-out lasts for a whopping 4 minutes. The long outro of 'All You Need Is Love' clearly wasn't long enough - they really took the biscuit with this one! 'Hey Jude' was recorded during sessions for 'The White Album' while tensions were high in the band. But, the promotional clip for the song gives off the opposite impression. There's a real feeling of togetherness as The Beatles play this piano heavy stadium anthem and invite members of the audience to join them. 'Hey Jude' is loved all around the world and that extends to BuzzJack. Congratulations to 'Hey Jude' for beating off all competition as the best song on the '1' compilation!

 

Thank you to everyone for taking part in these survivor rounds! It's been a blast for the past 3 months or so :heart: what do you make of the result?

 

FULL RESULTS:

 

01. Hey Jude | 9/22 votes

02. Yesterday | 13/22 votes

03. Eleanor Rigby | 7/18 votes

04. Let It Be | 7/19 votes

05. Ticket To Ride | 7/20 votes

06. Penny Lane | 5/17 votes

07. Hello, Goodbye | 8/17 votes

08. All You Need Is Love | 6/19 votes

09. Day Tripper | 5/16 votes

10. Help! | 5/18 votes

 

11. I Want To Hold Your Hand | 3/20 votes (original vote) / 6/15 votes (tie-break round)

12. Paperback Writer | 9/22 votes

13. We Can Work It Out | 5/17 votes

14. I Feel Fine | 8/18 votes

15. A Hard Day's Night | 5/20 votes

16. Can't Buy Me Love | 5/22 votes

17. Come Together | 4/19 votes

18. Something | 4/19 votes

19. Love Me Do | 4/18 votes

20. Yellow Submarine | 5/20 votes

 

21. Eight Days A Week | 5/17 votes

22. From Me To You | 4/21 votes (original vote) / 10/16 votes (tie-break round)

23. Get Back | 5/17 votes

24. The Long And Winding Road | 4/20 votes

25. She Loves You | 6/21 votes

26. Lady Madonna | 6/21 votes

27. The Ballad Of John And Yoko | 7/25 votes

'Hey Jude' is a fantastic winner! I hope I will get the opportunity to hear Paul sing both this anthem and the runner-up 'Yesterday' live some day. 'Hey Jude's b-side 'Revolution' is a Beatles favourite for me too, what a 1-2 punch *.*

 

I actually received '1' on vinyl for Christmas, fitting to finally own it for the first time on any format after hosting this event :wub:

'Hey Dude Jude' is definitely the correct winner for me, very glad to see it pulling through :wub: I could honestly listen to the outro of it on repeat for hours and not get bored of it tbh. (Although Peter Kay's CIN medley has conditioned me to always expect it to suddenly break into 'One Day Like This' lol)

Thanks for this Jade! It’s a great top 3.

Hey Jude was the only Beatles no.1 to make the final of my Ultimate UK No.1 poll so it's not a huge surprise to see it win this event as well. Thanks for doing this Jade.

 

Beatles fans can now vote for any of their five no.2 singles in my Ultimate no.2 poll in the UK Charts forum.

Thanks for doing this Jade! It's been a fun three months.

Perfect winner there! A true classic. Runner-up's not too bad either!

 

Thanks very much for hosting Jade, loved the commentaries.

Edited January 2, 20205 yr by Dobbo

Fair winner, I do like it a lot, it always tops polls of their best songs and it is an iconic song so not a surprise. I just wish it hadn't become the default drunken singalong song at every live concert, it's tainted it somewhat. Yesterday is still a simple beautiful masterpiece.

 

Thank you for this Jade, I loved reading your commentaries in particular! (and I really need to get on with my own survivor now :kink:)

It's also become a drunken singalong at T20 cricket matches when it's played in between overs.

Not surprised at all by the winner but Hey Jude is definitely one of their best, even if I would have preferred Yesterday to win!

 

Thanks for hosting this!

Thanks so much everyone :heart: was a pleasure to write about my favourite band!

Yes thanks Hey Jade a worthy winner :lol: , and thanks for the for the fab commentaries Jade.

 

I hope you get to see Macca sing 'em live - I got to do that in the 80's at Wembley Arena, not too far from the front, and took my mum. He'd just started Hey Jude, the crowd stood up, tears welled in my eyes...and then a woman a few seats away passed out and rather ruined the mood! Overcome with emotion I think, she was OK, but the Na Na Na's didn't reach their full potential for me as a result. Doh!

So what’s the next survivor and who’s doing it?

Maybe someone like Fleetwood Mac?

 

Oasis could be good also!

Oasis would be brilliant - is there a volunteer?

Great winner but am I the only one who wishes it was just a minute shorter? Would be perfect then.

 

Thanks for hosting Jade.