‘Goodbye’ was a song written by Paul McCartney for singer Mary Hopkin, as the follow-up to her chart-topping debut single ‘Those Were The Days’. It was credited to Lennon-McCartney.
I didn’t have in mind any more Russian folk songs so I just wrote one for her. I thought it fit the bill. It wasn’t as successful as the first one but it did all right. My main memory of it is from years later, going on a boat trip from the north of Scotland to the Orkney Islands. The skipper of the boat was called George, and he told me it was his favourite song. And if you think of it from a sailor’s point of view, it’s very much a leaving-the-port song. He had the strangest Scottish accent, almost sort of Norwegian, as the Orkneyans do. He was quite proud of the fact that that was his favourite song.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
‘Goodbye’ was written in February 1969 at 7 Cavendish Avenue, McCartney’s home in north London. The demo recording was cut to an acetate disc at Apple’s headquarters, 3 Savile Row, London, to allow Hopkin and arranger Richard Hewson to work on their parts.
Hopkin’s recording raised the key from C to E. McCartney produced the single at Morgan Studios over two sessions on 1 and 2 March 1969. The sessions were filmed by Tony Bramwell for an Apple promotional clip.
He did demo ‘Goodbye’ for me, which he wrote and then produced. And when we recorded it we played the guitar part together, plus Paul added a thigh slap all through the song and played ukulele.
Record Collector, 1988
The single’s b-side, ‘Sparrow’, was written by Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle, songwriters signed to Apple Publishing. Hopkin’s recording was also made on 2 March, with her singing and playing guitar, McCartney on maracas, and a session musician on upright bass.
‘Goodbye’ was released as a single in the United Kingdom on 28 March 1969. It spent three weeks at number two on the UK charts, for two of which The Beatles’ ‘Get Back’ was at number one.
In the US, the single was issued on 7 April, and reached number 13 on the singles chart. It topped the charts in Ireland and the Netherlands.
After ‘Goodbye’, Mary and I didn’t work together again. She wanted to do a more folky album [Earth Song/Ocean Song], and I felt that if she wanted to do that I wasn’t really interested in producing it. I don’t think it was a very good idea in the end.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
Paul McCartney’s demo of ‘Goodbye’ was released in 2019 on the Abbey Road 50th anniversary super deluxe box set.
El demo suena mucho mejor que la grabación que fue lanzada por Hopkins…
Está canción merecía un lugar en el album blanco.
Such a great song. Nice stories about it, too.
The Lennon/McCartney credit was totally inaccurate, because if you listen to Paul’s homemade demo, it was obviously written by him alone.
But contractually they had to be accredited to them both
Sorry, but you’re wrong: John openly stated that the Lennon/McCartney credit was never a legal deal, but rather, an unwritten agreement that they made when they were both underage. Besides, when The Beatles first signed to EMI as a fledgling but experienced act from Liverpool, neither John nor Paul would have been in any position to contractually enforce the joint credit and nobody forced them to share the writing credits on their songs.
John himself stated about “Give Peace a Chance”, “I didn’t write it with Paul; but again, out of guilt, we always had that thing that our names would go on songs even if we didn’t write them. It was never a legal deal between Paul and me, just an agreement when we were fifteen or sixteen to put both our names on our songs. I’d put his name on Give Peace A Chance though he had nothing to do with it. It was a silly thing to do, actually. It should have been Lennon-Ono.”
What a lot of people don’t realize is that in a Savile Row meeting in 1969 to discuss recording a follow-up album to “Abbey Road”, John actually initiated the idea of abolishing the Lennon & McCartney credit altogether in favour of having his and Paul’s songs individually credited and in addition, he, Paul and George would have four songs apiece while Ringo could have two songs if he wanted them.
“Goodbye” – Paul McCartney put it down as Lennon – McCartney. Which was sung by Mary Hopkins. Just like “A World Without Love” Paul McCartney put it down as Lennon – McCartney. Which is sung by Peter and Gordon.
Written agreements are valid in the courts as Legal deals and oral agreements are valid in the courts as Legal deals. And you need something more than just taking the word of John Lennon.
Your text says “‘Goodbye’ was a song written by Paul McCartney for singer Mary Hopkin….” to which I must ask, what is it now? If it WAS a song, what did it become?
Perhaps your text ought to read “‘Goodbye’ IS a song written by Paul McCartney for singer Mary Hopkin….”?
“Goodbye” was written by Paul McCartney for singer Mary Hopkin. Picky, picky “professor.” Sheesh.