Editing Hey Jude (section)

==Composition and structure==
"Hey Jude" begins with McCartney singing lead vocals and playing the piano. The patterns he plays are based on three chords: F, C and B{{music|flat}} (I, V and IV).{{sfn|Lowry|2002|p=44}} The main chord progression is "flipped on its head", in Hertsgaard's words, for the coda, since the C chord is replaced by E{{music|flat}}.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1995|pp=249–250}} Everett comments that McCartney's melody over the verses borrows in part from [[John Ireland (composer)|John Ireland]]'s 1907 [[Liturgical music|liturgical]] piece ''Te Deum'', as well as (with the first change to a B{{music|flat}} chord) suggesting the influence of [[the Drifters]]' 1960 hit "[[Save the Last Dance for Me]]".{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=192}}{{refn|group=nb|McCartney later acknowledged that part of the verse for "Hey Jude" originated from "when I was fooling around with 'Save the Last Dance for Me' on guitar".{{sfn|Clayson|2003a|pp=99–100}}}}

The second verse of the song adds accompaniment from acoustic guitar and tambourine. Tim Riley writes that, with the "restrained tom-tom and cymbal fill" that introduces the drum part, "the piano shifts downward to add a flat seventh to the tonic chord, making the downbeat of the bridge the point of arrival ('And any time you feel the {{em|pain}}{{'}})."{{sfn|Riley|2002|p=252}} At the end of each bridge, McCartney sings a brief phrase ("Na-na-na na …"), supported by an electric guitar fill,{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=194}} before playing a piano fill that leads to the next verse. According to Riley, this vocal phrase serves to "reorient the harmony for the verse as the piano figure turns upside down into a vocal aside". Additional musical details, such as tambourine on the third verse and subtle harmonies accompanying the lead vocal, are added to sustain interest throughout the four-verse, two-bridge song.{{sfn|Riley|2002|p=253}}

The verse-bridge structure persists for approximately three minutes, after which the band leads into a four-minute-long coda, consisting of nineteen rounds of the song's double [[plagal cadence]].{{sfn|Everett|1999|p=192}} During this coda, the rest of the band, backed by an orchestra that also provides backing vocals, repeats the phrase "Na-na-na na" followed by the words "hey Jude" until the song gradually fades out.{{refn|group=nb|Author [[John Kruth]] writes that McCartney might have taken the idea for the closing refrain from [[Cannibal & the Headhunters]]' 1965 hit "[[Land of a Thousand Dances]]", the main [[Hook (music)|hook]] of which is a series of "extended 'nah nah nah nah nahs{{'"}}. This band, whom McCartney nicknamed "the Nah Nah Boys", were his choice for the Beatles' support act on their [[The Beatles' 1965 US tour|1965 US tour]].{{sfn|Kruth|2015|pp=22–23}}}} In his analysis of the composition, musicologist [[Alan W. Pollack|Alan Pollack]] comments on the unusual structure of "Hey Jude", in that it uses a "binary form that combines a fully developed, hymn-like song together with an extended, [[mantra]]-like jam on a simple chord progression".<ref name="Pollack"/>

Riley considers that the coda's repeated chord sequence (I–{{music|flat}}VII–IV–I) "answers all the musical questions raised at the beginnings and ends of bridges", since "The flat seventh that posed dominant turns into bridges now has an entire chord built on it." This three-chord refrain allows McCartney "a bedding ... to leap about on vocally",{{sfn|Riley|2002|p=254}} so he ad-libs his vocal performance for the rest of the song. In Riley's estimation, the song "becomes a tour of Paul's vocal range: from the graceful inviting tones of the opening verse, through the mounting excitement of the song itself, to the surging raves of the coda".{{sfn|Riley|2002|p=255}}