The Beatles song that made Mick Jagger lose his mind
The rivalry between The Beatles and The Rolling Stones is the most famous feud in the history of rock ‘n’ roll. However, underneath the barbed comments in the press was deep-rooted mutual respect. However, tensions did occasionally spill over into jealousy, such as the time when Mick Jagger heard one Beatles classic for the first time.
When The Beatles were elected into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, Jagger had the honour of being the person to induct the Fab Four into the club. During his speech, The Rolling Stones frontman spoke about the love he holds for his one-time bitter rivals, expressed his gratitude for the Liverpudlians giving his band their song ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, and Jagger joked he was “almost sick” when he first discovered them.
While his quip made the room shake with laughter, an element of truth was hidden behind the humorous comment. Throughout The Beatles’ career, they were a step ahead of their peers, and on more than one occasion, Jagger was left perplexed by the brilliance of their creative output.
One example of Jagger becoming envious of their skill set is ‘Hey Jude’, a song that blew him away to another dimension. In the book Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, The Beatles founder revealed Jagger’s feverish reaction to the track.
“The end refrain was never a separate song. I remember taking it down to a late night hashish-smoking club in a basement in Tottenham Court Road: the Vesuvio club. We were sitting around on bean bags as was the thing,” McCartney recalled.
He continued: “I said to the DJ, ‘Here’s an acetate. Do you want to slip it in some time during the evening?’ He played it, and I remember Mick Jagger coming up: ‘Fucking hell, fucking hell. That’s something else, isn’t it? It’s like two songs.’ It wasn’t intended to go on that long at the end but I was having such fun ad-libbing over the end when we put down the original track that I went on a long time.”
When The Rolling Stones were recording Let It Bleed in 1969, Jagger openly admitted to his band’s plans to take influence from ‘Hey Jude’ on the album. In an interview, he stated: “I liked the way the Beatles did that with ‘Hey Jude’. The orchestra was not just to cover everything up—it was something extra. We may do something like that on the next album.”
On Let It Bleed, The Stones stayed true to Jagger’s word and used an expansive orchestra during the recording process of ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’. While they don’t follow the same structure, through clever orchestral arrangements, they both transform from one song into another over their respective running time. Although this could be coincidental, it might also have been Jagger powerfully utilising his love of ‘Hey Jude’.
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