Off The Beatle Track

I’ve been listening to (and singing along with) Hey Jude for decades, but I have come to believe that I have gotten the some of the lyrics wrong. Well, one word, anyway. Here’s the verse in question:

So let it out and let it in. Hey, Jude, begin.
You’re waiting for someone to perform with.
And don’t you know that it’s just you? Hey, Jude, you’ll do.
The movement you need is on your shoulder.

Until recently, I thought that last words of the third line were “Hey, Jude, you do”–in other words, I heard it as Paul answering his rhetorical question and comforting Jude by saying “I know that you know that it’s just you.” Whatever “it” means. As Daffy Duck would say, “Pronoun trouble.”

But by using a future-tense verb there, Paul seems to be telling Jude that he, Jude, will be sufficient to perform the task assigned to him. And “you’ll do” is not exactly a ringing endorsement. In an otherwise empathetic song, that line seems strained (“I suppose you’ll do, in a pinch”), which might be why I mentally edited it for so long.

I’ve listened closely to the original recording, and I’m pretty sure that Paul says “you’ll.” I’ve also rewatched Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s video clip, which aired in September 1969 on Frost on Sunday. Paul seems to sing “you’ll” in that video clip too.

The song has been a staple of Paul’s live act for many years. I’ve listened to several live versions, and although Paul has taken to stretching out the word in question (“Hey, Jude, you-ou-ou-ou-ou-ou-ou’ll do”), he does seem to stick to the future tense.

It’s entirely possible that “you’ll do” has a different connotation in British English than in American English, which could call my interpretation into question. And I guess it’s possible that Paul does actually sing “you do,” though I’ve thoroughly convinced myself otherwise.

What do you think Paul sings in that line, and what do you think it means? Email me at beatletrack@gmail.com.