Paul McCartney’s handwritten letter with ‘Hey Jude’ lyrics sell for £730,000

The lyrics sheet was among 250 other items that were being auctioned to mark fifty years since The Beatles split up. The auction was meant to be held at the Hard Rock Café in New York, but was moved online due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The letter which has the lyrics to ‘Hey Jude’ handwritten by Paul McCartney sold of £731,000, which is almost six times more than what it was priced it. The lines in the lyrics are numbered with notations such as the word, ‘break.’ This piece of paper was later gifted to a sound engineer by McCartney.

The letter was sold with a photo which was taken inside the studios where this sheet is seen to be placed next to Lennon. Darren Julien, president of Julien’s Auctions, said: “The Hey Jude lyrics were done in the hand by Paul McCartney during recording. What makes them so incredible is that there are photographs and footage of him using the lyrics while recording which is extremely rare.”

McCartney penned down this song back in 1968 for Lennon’s son, Julian after his parents’ divorce. Sir Paul said: “I was quite mates with Julian. I was going out in my car just vaguely singing this song, ‘Hey Jules, don’t make it bad…’. “Then I thought a better name was Jude – a bit more country and western for me,” he added.