The Terrible Song That Inspired The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude’

The Beatles’ songs drew inspiration from the greats. In spite of that, one of the worst songs of all time became a big inspiration for The Beatles' "Hey Jude."

The Beatles were one of the best bands of all time and their songs drew inspiration from the greats, including Chuck Berry and Ludwig van Beethoven. In spite of that, one of the worst songs of all time became a big inspiration for The Beatles’ “Hey Jude.” The similarity between the two songs is minor at best.

The length of The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude’ was inspired by an awful song

“MacArthur Park” is the worst folk song of the 1960s. On the surface, it’s about MacArthur Park in Los Angeles melting in the dark as a sweet green cake gets soaked outdoors in the rain. A man laments the loss of a woman who used to hold birds like tender babies in her hands. Metaphor is great and all, but a song should work well on a literal level. “MacArthur Park” comes up with a lot of random images that don’t really gel. While The Beatles expertly threw out the rule book, “MacArthur Park” writer Jimmy Webb threw out the rule book but had no idea how to replace it.

During a 2103 interview with The Guardian, Webb explained what he and his session musicians felt about it. “At first, we felt like the guys who’d created the A-bomb: we were a bit afraid of what we’d done,” he said. “I didn’t know I could write something like that.

“We had doubts about releasing it as a single, but when radio stations began playing it from the album in its entirety, I was asked to do a shorter version as a single,” he added. “I refused, so eventually they put out the full seven minutes 20 seconds. George Martin once told me The Beatles let ‘Hey Jude’ run to over seven minutes because of ‘MacArthur Park.'”

According to rumor, ‘MacArthur Park’ was once much longer

“MacArthur Park” became notorious for its endless lyrical curveballs. “I’ve been asked a million times: What is the cake left out in the rain?'” Webb said. “It’s something I saw — we would eat cake and leave it in the rain.

“But as a metaphor for a losing a chapter of your life, it seemed too good to be true,” he continued. “When she broke up with me, I poured the hurt into the song. It was always around seven minutes long — not 22 as has been written.” Maybe if Webb put out a 22-minute version of “MacArthur Park,” we would have gotten a 22-minute version of “Hey Jude.”

How ‘MacArthur Park’ performed compared to ‘Hey Jude’

The Billboard Book of Number One Hits reports “MacArthur Park” peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Donna Summer reinterpreted “MacArthur Park” as a disco track. Summer’s cover topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks. While critics despise “MacArthur Park,” it’s one of very few post-1950s songs that became a hit for two different artists.

“Hey Jude” was a hit only once, but what a hit it was. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for a whopping nine weeks, staying on the chart for 19 weeks in total. The tune appeared on the compilation album Hey Jude. That record peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for 36 weeks.

Love or hate “MacArthur Park,” “Hey Jude” would not be the same without it.