3 Beatles Songs That Are Way Sadder Once You Know Their Backstories

Some of the best songs come from a difficult place. Here are a few Beatles songs that are already a bit sad but become absolutely devastating once you know the thought that went behind them.

“Julia”

“Julia” is a song inspired by Lennon’s mother, who died in a car accident when Lennon was just 17. In a 2020 interview, McCartney shared that this was his favorite Lennon song. It doesn’t really even sound that sad, even though there are elements of grief in it.

“Half of what I say is meaningless / But I say it just to reach you, Julia, Julia / Julia, ocean child, calls me.”

“Julia was my mother,” Lennon told David Sheff. “But [the song] was sort of a combination of Yoko and my mother blended into one…”

“Blackbird” 

If you’ve ever heard “Blackbird”, you’ve likely felt captivated by that guitar riff that plays at the beginning of the song or noticed the catchy melody that McCartney sings over top of it. While “Blackbird” basically sounds like a song about a raven, the idea behind the tune actually goes a lot deeper than that, as McCartney explained to Barry Miles. 

“I had in mind a Black woman, rather than a bird,” he explained. “Those were the days of the civil rights movement, which all of us cared passionately about, so this was really a song from me to a Black woman, experiencing these problems in the States…”

“Hey Jude” 

While “Hey Jude” is a relatively uplifting song, encouraging the listener to choose hope over despair, the inspiration for this McCartney-penned song actually came from another Beatles story. 

McCartney wrote this one for Lennon’s son, Julian Lennon. Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia, were getting divorced, and McCartney wanted the song to be a source of comfort for their child.

Here’s part of what Lennon had to say about the song to David Sheff:

“[McCartney] said it was written about Julian, my child,” Lennon shared. “He knew I was splitting with Cyn and leaving Julian. He was driving over to say hi to Julian. He’d been like an uncle to him. You know, Paul was always good with kids. And so he came up with ‘Hey Jude’.”

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