“It was a bit of a number for me to have to dare to tell George Harrison not to play guitar. It was like an insult”: Paul McCartney turned down George Harrison's proposed guitar parts for Hey Jude

(from left) Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison, performing the Beatles' Hey Jude.

Even in the Beatles' ever-ubiquitous catalog, Hey Jude occupies a special place.

Written by Paul McCartney as a pick-me-up for John Lennon's son, Julian, in the wake of his parents' divorce, Hey Jude has racked up – in less than a decade on Spotify – over 600 million streams, and is ranked #13 on Billboard's list of the Greatest Hot 100 Songs of All Time, the Fab Four's highest entry on the list.