Paul McCartney Sings “Hey Jude” During Super Bowl Halftime Show And Crowd Joins In

A Moving Performance

One of the best Halftime Shows is Paul McCartney’s set during the Super Bowl XXXIX at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida on February 6, 2005. It was broadcast in over 200 countries all over the globe and reportedly watched by an estimated 86 million viewers. Packed with some of his greatest hits like “Drive My Car,” “Get Back,” and “Live and Let Die”, he ended his performance with an explosive live take of The Beatles classic “Hey Jude”.

It’s his second appearance at Super Bowl since he previously played at a pre-game gig at Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans in 2002.

To prevent the massive controversy brought about by Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake’s halftime show in 2004 and the “wardrobe malfunction” issue, the league opted for Paul McCartney as he was deemed a “safe” choice.

“Hey Jude” was written in 1968 by McCartney and it was for John Lennon’s son Julian.

McCartney said, “I started singing: ‘Hey Jules – don’t make it bad, take a sad song, and make it better…’ It was optimistic, a hopeful message for Julian: ‘Come on, man, your parents got divorced. I know you’re not happy, but you’ll be OK.’ I eventually changed ‘Jules’ to ‘Jude’. One of the characters in Oklahoma! is called Jud, and I like the name.”