In 1968 I had just High School in Box Hill. While music had been a constant background while growing up and the Beatles were a perfect soundtrack I didn't rate them any higher or lower than other bands of the time. I loved The Monkees singles and the first single I ever bought was a Monkees record. Apart from that I didn't put any band at the top of my list. I started to watch a chart show they used to place on Channel 2 early Saturday afternoons. This was me starting to get into music big time. The trouble was that as soon as music started to become part of my life Hey Jude hit the top of the charts and was there for about 9 weeks. And it went for over 7 minutes so they had to cut songs off the chart to make way for it. I couldn't stand the song. But I couldn't stop singing it. I loved it and hated it. I even contemplated entering a talent show at one stage singing Hey Jude.
As the Beatles became sacred to me in 1969 after my mum bought me a copy of Abbey road I still avoided Hey Jude which was easy because it wasn't on any albums. Then in the 80s I started DJing at the Rubber Soul and we used to have these theme nights. The biggest was the Doors. Next biggest was the Beatles. The first night I put this on as the last song. Massive speakers, great sound, hundreds of people singing along. It really was a fantastic song. The delightful bit was I could listen to it with untainted ears.
I did eventually buy the single as a teenager. But never got to play because my mate Alan Barnard through a dart and landed on the record. making it jump around the second verse. Revolution was fine though. And I would wear the grooves out on that song. Such a fantastic raw sound.
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