The Long, Expensive Journey of Paul McCartney's “Hey Jude” Recording Notes (And How ...
The process of inheriting family heirlooms doesn’t work in quite the same way when someone in that family is one of the biggest celebrities in the world, which is how Paul McCartney’s “Hey Jude” recording notes took a long, expensive journey through several hands before the document found its way to its rightful owner. In this case, the “owner” was the man—at that time, the young boy—for whom McCartney originally wrote this classic Beatles track.
Several decades after McCartney first wrote the musical pep talk to his bandmate’s young son, “Hey Jude”’s namesake finally got to say he owned the physical evidence of McCartney’s heartwarming message of strength and love.
From Song Devotee To Auction Bidder
Because of their status as one of the biggest bands in the world, virtually everything The Beatles ever put their hands on developed great, instantaneous value. Whether a scrap piece of tape from a session, hand-drawn doodles during a bit of band downtime, or the notepads where the musicians scribbled down their lyrics or recording notes, these momentos have passed among the artists’ family members, music historians, museum curators, and collectors ever since the band dissolved in the late 1960s. With so many hands eager to snatch onto these items, some rightful owners are bound to be overlooked.
Such was the case for Julian Lennon, who, despite being the main source of inspiration for Paul McCartney’s classic Beatles track, “Hey Jude”, had to buy back the handwritten recording notes from his father’s former bandmate when they resurfaced at a London auction in 1996. These were lyrics that McCartney wrote for Lennon, who was only five at the time. One would think that Lennon would automatically receive ownership rights for this fact alone. Yet, the son of John Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia Lennon, bought back those lyrics for $39,030. (That would be around $80,000 in 2025.)
“He is collecting for personal reasons,” Julian’s manager, John Cousins, told the Tampa Bay Times. “These are family heirlooms, if you like.”
Source: Melanie Davis/americansongwriter.com
