Hey Jude and the Lone Dissenter

The Beatles' "Hey Jude" is an instantly recognizable classic. I have a hard time thinking of anyone that truly hates the song. St. Jude gets incredibly good press as the patron saint for hopeless cases and desperate times, while English football fans get a great song to sing along with during games. This song apparently has a colorful history, though.

During a routine Wikipedia stop, my mouse cursor took an inadvertent run at the "Random article" link as my finger simultaneously clicked. While I muttered an explicative under my breath for not having proper motor coordination, I was instantly intrigued by the random "Hey Jude" article that now presented itself to me.

As I was reading, one bit of trivia jumped out and made my eyebrows do one of those "oh!" perks:
"George Martin arranged for the 36-piece orchestral accompaniment that would later be edited into the recording. The Beatles asked the orchestra members if they would mind clapping their hands and singing along to the refrain in the song's coda. Most complied, but one obstinately replied, "I'm not going to clap my hands and sing Paul McCartney's bloody song!" and stormed out of the studio."

Who IS this guy?! He must have had some serious reservations about clapping and singing for cash. And Paul. I wonder what became of this lone dissenter. Was he endlessly ribbed and chastised by the other 35 pieces in that orchestral accompaniment the next day at rehearsal? "Oh man, Lawrence, you TOTALLY missed out on the end of that song! Paul was going James Brown on us with vocal improv! Man, glad I stayed! I'll be damned if I didn't see Ringo wink at me!"

Was he unwilling to sacrifice his professional integrity for just a few minutes? What could this guy be doing right now and what else could he be obstinately refusing? My conclusion is that this must be in his nature. He obstanitely refuses everything good in this world and embraces evil. He is a dark nexus of cold-hearted obstinance amid good English cheer. Apple pie? Obstinate refusal. Flowers? Obstinate unwillingness to smell them. World peace? Hearty endorsement for the continuation of violence on a global scale. Great feel-good movie? Storms out.

I really need to stop listening to this song now before madness drives me to do something crazy like clean my room.

Wherever you are, Lone Dissenter, don't let it get under your skin.