Alternate footage of The Beatles’ Hey Jude performance dubbed ‘fantastic’ by fans

Alternative footage to The Beatles’ Hey Jude music video has been found and shared among fans.

The footage of The Beatles‘ performance of the song, which served as a promotional recording for the non-album song, was shared on the r/TheBeatles subreddit. A fan of the Fab Four called it “good stuff” and a slightly different perspective for the video. The Beatles’ Hey Jude, written by Paul McCartney and credited to the John Lennon and Paul McCartney writing credit, topped the charts in the UK, US, and across Europe. McCartney had composed the song during a car ride to visit Lennon’s son, Julian. The song was originally titled Hey Jules as a way to comfort the then-five-year-old through the divorce of his parents, John Lennon and Cynthia Lennon. Lennon later said in an interview that he believed McCartney had written it for him.

Lennon suggested he had “always heard it as a song to me” and that it was McCartney’s way of giving Lennon and Yoko Ono his blessing. The song was released to universal acclaim and remains a staple of McCartney’s solo sets. Hey Jude was also performed for a live audience as part of promotional material, though alternate shots have since been shared as part of the One compilation album. Said video has been uploaded to YouTube and shared with fans of the band, who “prefer” this version over the original.

A fan sharing the footage wrote: “Alternate takes/footage of the Hey Jude shoot. Good stuff! Fun to see/hear what you’re familiar with a slightly different perspective to it.” Sessions from the David Frost show run for around twenty-five minutes and features a series of new camera perspectives left out of the original version.

One fan dubbed the material “fantastic” while another said they “had no idea these takes existed!” A third wrote: “I actually much prefer Paul’s vocals here to the record. Great thread!” Others have praised the depths of the new material, with one suggesting it is the “most stunning” moment of The Beatles’ discography.

They wrote: “What a massive song this is. All it takes is not listening to it for a while, then you play it, and it’s just phenomenal. Paul’s yelling and the na na nas starting are one of the most moving and stunning moments of their catalogue.”

Another agreed, adding: “Wow that was fantastic. I loved every second. One thing I couldn’t figure out was what sounded like intermittent double-tracking on Paul’s vocals. Are they singing along with a guide track which contains the backing ahhh vocals (which are suspiciously perfect)?”

The original poster replied with a possible answer to the “suspiciously perfect” sound. They wrote: “Yeah, this is pretty much it I think, but I’ll paraphrase something and invite anyone to expand or rectify anything I miss.

“There were laws, I think, in place where they were that discouraged lip syncing for live performances. This was filmed WITH some backing that we can definitely notice, especially in terms of the instrumentation, but they seem to have rather cleverly disguised it by having real moments of the in-person performance being recorded, such as Paul’s speech/singing and maybe the piano or so.

“Lovely bit of slight fakery. I don’t know how stringent the lip sync laws were, but they were essentially a ‘no’ and they still planned on doing it that way, but made just enough of an adjustment to either fly under the radar, or to technically meet or appear to meet the conditions which were needed for a “live” broadcast. Some parts pre-recorded, some parts live, all parts brilliant!”