Hey Jude

I saw a post today on facebook asking if you had a choice, would you:

a)  add ten years to your life and get $10 Million, or
b)  go back to your 20th birthday with all the knowledge you have now.

It is a tough question and since no one has a working time machine, I won't waste much energy in thinking about something that will never happen.

But, if I had to do it all again, I think I would try to become a literature professor.  (Those who can, do; those who can't, teach).  I love literature and I love that great literature evolves.

I have always loved to read and I have always loved words.  I was always saving my allowance buying journals that I could just write.  I remember the first book that brought me to tears.  It was Anne of Green Gables and my mother and I were driving to my grandfather's house in Melville, SK.  Great literature is timeless and has the capacity to transport you to another place.

My father and I read Michener's Alaska and fell in love with Alaska.  At that moment, we both wanted to go on an Alaskan cruise together.  My father never scratched that off his bucket list and I think I still want to go on that cruise, but I really know if I do, because it will be difficult going without my dad.

My mother didn't really start reading until the last decade of her life.  Then, we started reading the same books and started doing what my dad and I used to do.  Depending on the length of the chapters, we would each read a few chapters and then hand the book off and let the other one catch up.   My dad would have been so happy.  It was pretty cool because it gave us an avenue to disagree on characters or plots but still maintain our relationship.  It was an important lesson for us to learn and I am glad we were able to learn that life doesn't have to be all or nothing.  My mom could still dislike an outfit I wore but still loved me.

If I was teaching literature, I would also expand it to include great works of writing and include screen plays and songs.  A screen play worth studying is The Breakfast Club.  Another would be The Big Chill.  Both get to the core of relationships and expectations and preconceived ideas.  Wonderful movies that have several ethical dilemmas and prove that the right answer is dependent on your perspective.

Songs are wonderful canvasses for the expression of literature.  I remember 1983 when Born in the USA came out and everyone had that album and every track seemed like a masterpiece.  We all danced to all the anthems without listening to the words.  Hungry Heart was a favorite of mine until I stopped dancing and listened to the words:

Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack
I went out for a ride and I never went back
Like a river that don't know where it's flowing
I took a wrong turn and I just kept going......

Wait a minute !!!  Is this the Boss talking about deserting his wife and family for no reason.   Surely, this can't be one of the great hits of the 80s.  Surely, he must have a pretty compelling reason.  Well, it turns out ....... Everybody has a hungry heart.......

It is no wonder that two decades later, the #MeToo movement has begun.  This was a big hit by one of the most popular artists of his time and he was advocating treating women and children with no respect.  

The 60s had a powerful anthem to express rebellion against government, "You say you want a revolution......"  The 80s had Boy George singing, "War is stupid, and people are stupid......"

But, if I was teaching a literature class based on song lyrics, I would have to include "Hey Jude".  There would be more than one Beatles song that would make my class, but "Hey Jude" would definitely be there.  

I think everyone can agree where the song started.  John Lennon was divorcing from his wife, Cynthia, after his affair with Yoko Ono.  This was very hard on their son, Julian so Paul McCartney wanted to write a song to help, Julian.  The song initially was "Hey Jules" but then changed to "Hey Jude" to make it sound better.  McCartney wrote the song but gave credit to Lennon as well.  That is the Agreed Statement of Facts that everyone can agree on.  

After that, things aren't so clear.  The song goes "Hey Jude, don't make it bad, take a sad song and make it better, Remember to let her into your heart, then you can start to make it better......"

One of the best themes in this song for me is that we have control of our destiny.  It is up to us to make things better.  Some may argue that is not fair.  It is not fair for a child to have to take action to make his life better, for example.  While I agree, I also have come to realize that life is ridiculously unfair.  If we never take action on the basis of fairness, well, I think many of us would lead very sad, lonely lives.  It is the person who wants things to be better to take an action.  All human beings are deeply flawed.  Taking an action to try and make things better may not work.  There is no 100% guarantee that taking an action will work, but atleast there is a chance.  If you don't take any action, there is no chance whatsoever of making things better.  

Many people think the song was for Julian, but not 9 year old Julian.  It was a song for when he got older and it was about acceptance.  No child wants their parents to divorce but that doesn't stop it from happening.  One needs to accept choices of others because they can not change other people's choices.  And, in order to accept another one's choices, you have to let the person they choose into your heart so that you keep the relationship.  

That is pretty grown up stuff.  Some people think that Sir Paul actually wrote that song for himself to save his friendship with John.  Cynthia was a great part of their friendship and he didn't want Cynthia to no longer be part of his life but he knew that he would have to accept that John chose Yoko Ono, and he would have to as well in order to continue the relationship.  

John Lennon felt the song was actually written for him as a message to ensure that he never forgot about his son and the heartbreak he was causing.

Others think that Paul wrote it for himself, but for different reasons.  He was in the process of breaking off an engagement because he had fallen in love with another woman, Linda.  

Since it is such an extraordinary work of literature, I think it is all of the above.  When you see the original recording, you can see the extraordinary emotion in Paul.  The song starts with Paul alone at the piano and gradually includes a 40 piece orchestra.  The coda goes on for 4 minutes and says very little yet seems to say so much.  It was apparently, the "bossiest" Paul had ever been in a recording studio.

In the end, I think the song is about change.  Nothing stays the same.  We can fight change and fight for the status quo but we will never be successful.  Relationships are messy and don't have a script, but we need to keep trying in order to adapt to change.  Radical acceptance is difficult, but the first step is always to let someone into your heart, and then you can make things better, better, better......

Easy to say.  Difficult to do.

Lyrics worth studying.