Hey Jude will never forget Paul's gesture of care and concern in coming to see us." The song's original title was "Hey Jules", and it was intended to comfort Julian Lennon from the stress of his parents' separation. McCartney later said, "I knew it was not going to be easy for him", and that he changed the name to "Jude" "because I thought that sounded a bit better". According to music journalist Chris Hunt, in the weeks after writing the song, McCartney "test[ed] his latest composition on anyone too polite to refuse. And that meant "everyone"." On 30 June, after recording the
Hey Jude number 12 on its list of "The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs" (between "Eleanor Rigby" and "Come Together"). On a similar list compiled four years later, "Rolling Stone" ranked the song at number seven. In 2015, the ITV program "The Nation's Favourite Beatles Number One" ranked "Hey Jude" in first place. In 2018, the music staff of "Time Out London" ranked it at number 49 on their list of the best Beatles songs. Writing in the magazine, Nick Levine said: "Don't allow yourself to overlook this song because of its sheer ubiquity ... 'Hey Jude' is a huge-hearted, super-emotional epic that