THE LAST TURKEY

I have had a little cheat at number two as I have had to accept that I cannot decide between two songs and no other song in this list deserves to go either. So number 2 is in two parts.

Both these songs are very similar in my mind and both are beyond just music: they are absolute epics. At number two is "Let it be" and "Hey Jude" by The Beatles.

When I listen to one of them I think that it is unsurpasable, then I listen to the other and think the very same thing. Intertestingly, both songs were written towards the bitter end of the Beatles' years and both were pretty much solo efforts by McCartney (a further reason in my mind as to why McCartney was the greater genius of the Lennon/McCartney partnership).

First up, "Hey Jude"...



"Hey Jude" is a song written by Paul McCartney, credited to Lennon/McCartney, and released as a single by The Beatles in 1968. Originally titled "Hey Jules", McCartney wrote the ballad to comfort John Lennon's son Julian during his parents' divorce.

"Hey Jude" was the first single from The Beatles' record label Apple Records. Over seven minutes in length, "Hey Jude" was at the time the longest single ever to top the British charts. It also spent nine weeks as number one in the United States—the longest run at the top of the American charts for a Beatles single. The single has sold approximately eight million copies and is frequently included on professional lists of the all-time best songs.

"Hey Jude" begins with a verse-bridge structure based around McCartney's vocal performance and piano accompaniment; further details are added as the song progresses to distinguish sections. After the fourth verse, the song shifts to a fade-out coda that lasts for more than four minutes.

In 1968, John Lennon and his wife Cynthia Lennon separated due to his affair with Yoko Ono. Soon afterwards, Paul McCartney drove out to visit Cynthia and Julian, her son with Lennon. "We'd been very good friends for millions of years and I thought it was a bit much for them suddenly to be personae non gratae and out of my life," McCartney said. Later, Cynthia Lennon recalled, "I was truly surprised when, one afternoon, Paul arrived on his own. I was touched by his obvious concern for our welfare.... On the journey down he composed 'Hey Jude' in the car. I will never forget Paul's gesture of care and concern in coming to see us."

Although McCartney originally wrote the song for Julian Lennon, John Lennon thought it had actually been written for him. Other people believed McCartney wrote the song about them, including Judith Simons, a journalist with the Daily Express. Still others, including John Lennon, have speculated that McCartney's failing long-term relationship with Jane Asher when he wrote "Hey Jude" was an unconscious "message to himself". In fact, when John Lennon mentioned that he thought the song was about him, McCartney denied it, and told Lennon he had written the song about himself.

"Hey Jude" was nominated for the Grammy Awards of 1969 in the Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal categories, but failed to win any of them. It did win the 1968 Ivor Novello Award for "A-Side With the Highest Sales". In the NME 1968 Readers' Poll, "Hey Jude" was named the best single of the year. In 2001, "Hey Jude" was inducted into the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2004, it was ranked number 8 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. It came in third on Channel 4's list of 100 Greatest Singles. The Amusement & Music Operators Association ranked "Hey Jude" the 11th-best jukebox single of all time.

Loads more on one of the greatest songs ever written at wikipedia.