The eighteenth official EMI release, and the first on Apple.
The launch of The Beatles own company was announced to the press in New York on May 13th 1968, and this was the first single
by the Beatles to appear on Apple. (Mary Hopkin having the honour of having the first real Apple release)
The Apple design was inspired by a Magritte painting, which I believe is now owned by Paul.
Hence we have a brand new label, and new paper sleeve, as seen above. The label was quite a dark apple, and you will notice
that some of the black lettering is quite hard to read, ALL first pressings of Apple singles have this darker apple, whereas
if you look at later re-pressings of the 70's the apple is distinctly lighter.
As for the sleeve, ALL original Apple sleeves are of a shiny nature. Later editions became more paper like.
First Pressings (1968)
Include "Sold in the U.K. ... " on the record label (as can be seen above).
Second Pressings (1969)
Without "Sold in the U.K. ... " on the record label.
Philips Pressing
Some copies at the original time were pressed by Philips Records to assist EMI who could not keep up with the demand for this Beatles release.
EMI sub-contracted Philips to run off a small batch at their Pressing Plant. As you can see from the detailed scan above there is a distinct difference between
the routine EMI pressing of Hey Jude and the slightly rarer Philips contract pressing. The Philips version displays three Prongs with a wider gap in the middle.
E.M.I. also pressed up some now VERY rare export editions. Whereas the standard release is on Apple, this export edition
was on the black and silver Parlophone label, with a catalogue number of DP 570.
The manufacturers rights statement begins with "THE GRAMOPHONE CO. LTD."
A-side matrix number is 7XCE 21185-1
B-side matrix number is 7XCE 21186-1
It is also housed in a picture sleeve which is shown above (front and rear are the same).
1988 Release
And finally, below you can see the picture disc version released in England as part of the, "It Was Twenty Years Ago"
series, on 30th August 1988, for this release though, due to the extended length of the A-side ... the picture disc also
appeared as a 12" picture disc with catalogue number 12 RP 5722. The pictures are indentical to the 7", but it does come
with a black 12" cardboard insert, which has perfect BIG pictures of the Apple label on each side, and other than the
catalogue number in the corner ... nothing else !
Digital Downloads
In 2010 iTunes (a digital download agency) were given access to The Beatles product, which now meant each track was available to download to internet connected devices.
These downloads had to be paid for and the number of sales were permitted to be counted for chart purposes (although JPGR doesn't concur with this process).
21st November 2010 - Hey Jude was the highest placed download in the singles chart at number 40.
28th November 2010 - the listing dropped seven places to number 47.
5th December 2010 - the listing dropped all the way down to number 99 (which is outside the Top 75 and doesn't count for record purposes).
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