Did John Lennon Like "Hey Jude"?

John Lennon did like "Hey Jude," which was a song written by Paul McCartney for John's son, Julian Lennon, during the time of John's divorce from his first wife, Cynthia Lennon. John and Paul had a complex relationship, particularly during the later years of The Beatles, but there were still moments of mutual respect and admiration for each other's work. "Hey Jude" was a massive hit for The Beatles and remains one of their most beloved songs. While there may have been some professional and personal tensions between John and Paul, it's widely acknowledged that they both appreciated each other's musical talents.

‘Hey Jude’ is Paul’s. It’s one of his masterpieces...I don’t think I had anything to do with it. Ask him! [laughs] I don’t feel as though I had anything to do with it. He said it was written about Julian, my child. He knew I was splitting with Cyn and leaving Julian, then, and so he was driving towards [Kenwood] to visit me, or Julian. I think it was just to see Julian, to just sort of say hi to him, ’cause he’d been like an uncle, you know – he was always good with kids. And he’d come up with ‘Hey Jude’.

But I always heard it as a song to me. If you think about it, Yoko’s just come into the picture – he’s saying, “Hey Jude.” “Hey John.” I mean, so now I’m sounding like one of those fans who’s writing things into it, but you can work – you can hear it as a song to me. Although it’s also a song about him and [Francie] Schwartz at the time, too. Uh, but you hear “lies a chip on your shoulder” [sic] and all those things, [which] I always took personally, because I was the one with a chip on me shoulder. And “go out and get her,” you know, and forget everything else. So subconsciously I take it that he was saying, “Go ahead.” On a conscious level, he didn’t want me to go ahead. So subconsciously, he… The angel in him was saying, “Bless you.” The devil in him didn’t like it at all. Because he didn’t want to lose his partner.

-John Lennon, 1980