‘Hello, Goodbye’ – The Beatles’ final single of 1967, their annus mirabilis – was their first release after the death of Brian Epstein. It was backed with ‘I Am The Walrus’, to the displeasure of John Lennon, who considered his song to be the superior of the two.
Lennon later dismissed ‘Hello, Goodbye’ as “three minutes of contradictions and meaningless juxtapositions”. The song had its genesis at Paul McCartney‘s house in Cavendish Avenue, London.
According to Alistair Taylor – Epstein’s former personal assistant and later the general manager of Apple Corps – McCartney first got the idea for ‘Hello, Goodbye’ at his home in Cavendish Avenue, London, after Taylor asked him how he wrote songs.
Paul marched me into the dining room, where he had a marvellous old hand-carved harmonium. ‘Come and sit at the other end of the harmonium. You hit any note you like on the keyboard. Just hit it and I’ll do the same. Now whenever I shout out a word, you shout the opposite and I’ll make up a tune. You watch, it’ll make music’…‘Black,’ he started. ‘White,’ I replied. ‘Yes.’ ‘No.’ ‘Good.’ ‘Bad.’ ‘Hello.’ ‘Goodbye.’
I wonder whether Paul really made up that song as he went along or whether it was running through his head already.
Yesterday
The song’s simplicity, much like previous single ‘All You Need Is Love’, was tailored to be understood by an international audience. Its childlike lyrics chimed with the times, perhaps a side-effect of the regressive spirit of LSD.
‘Hello, Goodbye’ was one of my songs. There are Geminian influences here I think: the twins. It’s such a deep theme in the universe, duality – man woman, black white, ebony ivory, high low, right wrong, up down, hello goodbye – that it was a very easy song to write. It’s just a song of duality, with me advocating the more positive. You say goodbye, I say hello. You say stop, I say go. I was advocating the more positive side of the duality, and I still do to this day.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
In the studio
The Beatles began recording ‘Hello, Goodbye’ on 2 October 1967, under the working title ‘Hello Hello’. They recorded 14 takes of the backing track – piano, organ, drums and other percussion instruments including bongos, congas, maracas and tambourine.
That’s another McCartney. Smells a mile away, doesn’t it? An attempt to write a single. It wasn’t a great piece; the best bit was the end, which we all ad-libbed in the studio, where I played the piano. Like one of my favourite bits on ‘Ticket To Ride’, where we just threw something in at the end.
They returned to it a little over a fortnight later. On 19 October two guitar parts were added, as were McCartney’s occasionally double tracked lead vocals, and Lennon and George Harrison’s backing vocals.
The following day two violas were added. George Martin scored the instruments, based on notes suggested by McCartney at the piano.
All of The Beatles were there. One of them was sitting on the floor in what looked like a pyjama suit, drawing with crayons on a piece of paper.
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn
McCartney added his first bass guitar part on 25 October, and added another on 2 November – at which point the song was complete.
From the recording aspect I remember the end bit where there’s the pause and it goes ‘Heba, heba hello’. We had those words and we had this whole thing recorded but it didn’t sound quite right, and I remember asking Geoff Emerick if we could really whack up the echo on the tom-toms. And we put this echo full up on the tom-toms and it just came alive. We Phil Spector’d it. And I noticed that this morning and I said to Linda, ‘Wait! Full echo on the toms, here we go!’ And they came in quite deep, like a precursor to Adam and the Ants.
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn
Paul didn’t think this song through – he ran out of antonyms ending with the long “O”-sound and had to resort to the inconsistent “why/I don’t know” couplet. If he’d given it ten minutes of thought, he might’ve come up with any of these perfectly satisfactory pairings:
“You say buck/I say doe”
“You say friend/I say foe”
“You say reap/I say sow”
“You say to/I say fro”
“You say shrink/I say grow”
and my favourite:
“You say suck/I say blow!”
(Still an enjoyable song, but the lyrics are surely the worst thing about it.)
Certainly not Paul’s best, but I really like the charging guitars on top of the violas in the right channel during the during the first “Hello hello” section. Has a bit of a Sgt. Pepper groove to it.
I always thought this song was on Pepper. One day I was looking at my Pepper CD thinking “Where the hell is Hello Goodbye?” I think there’s a video for it and they’re in their Pepper costumes.
Come on, dude! If it really was “reap” and “sow” the song would’ve been terrible! At least with the tune that’s there now. 🙂
Hello Goodbye is on of my favorite Beatles songs. I must have been either 4 or 5 years old when I first heard it on my brothers record player. Hard to believe it was one of John’s least liked recordings. Paul is supposedly singing double tracked lead vocals but it sounds like to me he’s singing co-lead with John. Anyways I think it’s one of the best songs of there career.
I absolutely love this song. Also has one of my favorite SirRingoPaul rhythm sections… the drums and bassline are just perfect together. It’s a fun song, people who don’t like fun must not like living ?????
John Lennon was so threatened by Paul’s talent. he started to make a habit of putting down most of Paul’s songs. If you think about songs like I am the Walrus, Everybody’s Got Something to Hide, Bungalo Bill, (John’s) they are nonsense or crap, from a lyrical standpoint. John put out a lot of crap on his solo albums, at least as much as Paul or any of the others, maybe more. He was always incredibly nasty about Paul’s contributions, toward the end. There was a certain jealousy going on.
In some ways John was a total jerk. He wasn’t the “peacenik” or demigod that people think he was. You can check it out by looking up his life story. He was a bully and a cretin, he hurt people, a lot, and many times, just for fun. His music is not better than Paul’s. Paul wrote a lot of the commercial songs, but where would they be without the commercial success? Paul also wrote more of the standard songs that will be treasured by generations to come in ALL musical styles. Paul also wrote some great rockers too like I Saw Her Standing There, Lady Madonna, Helter Skelter, etc. Paul also wrote the sexiest songs, if you value that. He was more versatile than John and John knew it and it came easier to him. John Lennon does not deserve the “sainthood” that some have bestowed upon him. And without Paul, it is very unlikely that John would have ever made it so bid. So many of their early great songs really were collaborations. And in spite of all of John’s nastiness to Paul, Paul never sank to his level and publicly insulted John. I am sick and tired of people elevating John Lennon to the heights of godhood. That is bullshit. Enough said.
Amen …. exactly what I’ve always thought.
Paul, and George were wayyy more talented than John.
Well, John was the dominant Beatle in the early part of their career. He wrote all their early hits, like “Please Please Me,” 10 of the 13 songs on “A Hard Day’s Night,” “I Feel Fine,” etc. And even though Paul came up with the basic lyrical idea for “She Loves You,” the music on it was John’s (which is why John took lead vocal). He wrote 100% of the music, and about 70% of the lyrics. In the early days, all the enduring hits were John’s with Paul throwing in two or three songs. (Paul was basically like what George was later on in their career. As I said: John wrote 10 of the 13 songs on “A Hard Day’s Night,” with Paul turning in 3. Kind of like George’s 3 songs on “Revolver”. . . . Paul would start to become more dominant around 1966/1967. Paul dominated Pepper like John, earlier, dominated “A Hard Day’s Night”. . . . So John clearly started to resent the momentum-shift as McCartney went into workaholic mode and John was blasted out on heroin. (As string out as he was, though, I’m still shocked that Lennon was capable of turning out hits right up till the end, like the Numbers 1’s “Come Together” and “The Ballad of John and Yoko”. (As well as “Give Peace A Chance,” which peaked at #2, deprived of the top spot on the charts by the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women”.) So John was still churning out hits. They just came fewer in number because of the drugs (a struggle he commemorated in “Cold Turkey”.)
Wait a second, The myth that John was the dominant force in music (100%) & the lyrics (70%) the early part of the Beatles is totally wrong. Paul kicked it off by doing the hit “Love Me Do” which got to #17 in England in 1962. Later, it went to #1 in the U.S. in 1964. In 1963, when they were starting off, the hits were “From Me To You” (50/50%), “She Loves You” (50/50%), “I Want Hold Your Hand” (50/50%) WRITTEN BY JOHN AND PAUL! And In 1958, Paul wrote “In Spite Of All The Danger” which was Sung by John was the first recording by Quarrymen (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John Lowe & Colin Hanton}.
I disagree with you.
John, Paul and George were way more talented than Pete Best.
Yes, in the final analysis John was extraordinarily human. Paul was/is more gentlemanly. They were/are very talented. They both have their faults. Without John they would not have been The Beatles; without Paul they would not have been The Beatles.
Personally I don’t think the Beatles could have even been what they were without George Harrison. He fit in tremendously like a fine wine with his style of guitar playing whether it was lead or rhythm. Beck, Page or Clapton could have never matched his quality. Good Morning Good Morning, Taxman, Drive my Car were Paul’s best leads but he couldn’t sound anything like George.
I love John and he was every bit the songwriter, singer and performer as Paul. John was a very special artist. Having said that, there’s a myth that has grown around John that just doesn’t line up with his actual behavior . It is sometimes sad to see how eager he was to put Paul down. I’m sure Paul could be a real pain at times and was arrogant in his own way but if you look at the big picture it seems to me that it was Paul that kept things together. It’s a useless exercise to argue who was “better” but I do think that John owes a lot more to Paul than he would ever let on.
Correct. John was talented, but not as much as Paul. Both gave their best when together.
There is some truth to what you say, but if you think ‘I am the Walrus’ is not a great song, then there is something wrong both with your hearing and your antenna for a great lyric.
Read his comment again. He didn’t say Walrus is not a great song. He said it has nonsense lyrics, which is true.
I agree 100%! I can’t remember Paul publicly saying something horrid about anyone, tbh. He’s talked about his fallout with Michael Jackson but he’s never said nasty things—even when he had a right to be nasty!
As for John, I think he was VERY talented, but Paul and George made some their best music outside of the Beatles… John’s peak was in ‘68.
The song is just fine,the way he wrote it!
Nah. “You say WHY and I say I DON’T KNOW” sounds much better. You need to have something that’s a break from the main pattern.
“Why-why-why-why-why-why [lots of echo, sound pretty trippy] DO YOU SAAAAAY GOODBYE, GOODBYE? Ohhh! Oh no!!!! YOU say Goodbye, and I [little bass guitar trill] say hello”
Backing vocals: “Hello Goodbye Hello Goodbye, Hello Goodbye, Hello Goodbye”. (Ascending scale on lead guitar).
It’s a GREAT track! 🙂
Ego much?
Like most everything McCartney, lines like “You say why/I say I don’t know” work anyway. I was never a big fan of this song for a long time, now so many years later I like it a lot more, it’s well arranged for one thing.
The rhyme on why/I don’t know is on the “i” sound — why and I. HEL-lo.
I can’t stand the double violas — they are SO GOOD!!! They are all on one side of the mix, so put the balance all to one side and prepare to adore! I listen to them over and over again.
FYI there is an isolated drum and viola track on youtube. you will love it 🙂
Think I have to go with Paul’s lyrics 🙂 Rewriting Beatles songs seems academic; besides, the flip side more than compensates for lyrics fans with Lennon’s Walrus. Anyway the lyrics don’t really matter here (about which Paul said: “It’s a song about everything and nothing. If you have black you have to have white…”)
As a song Hello Goodbye is about the melody. It’s a masterpiece of the upbeat pop and wonderful melodic compositions Paul was a genius at. I especially like Ringo’s fills and syncopations. Excellent creative drumming that’s both complex and melodic. Very enjoyable and this type of melodic song is a major reason the Beatles had so many No. one hits. The distinct coda ending is unique and powerful.
Hello Goodbye is brilliant! Paul at his very best. The cord progression, the vocals the unmistakable melody. The way he used major and minor cords switching back and forth and then back again. He did the same with Penny Lane and Michele. Some people say Beatle songs were so simple, if they were so simple then why isn’t everyone writing so many hits? It’s McCartney’s utter genius that’s why.
I think John wrote Penny Lane, didn’t he?
No, Paul.
It’s about 99% Paul’s lyrics although John did contribute.
Simple in a direct, solid way. Their melodies are the infrastructure which encouraged the inspired instrumentation, arrangement & production/sound engineering to push the bar into a historical benchmark. You’ve got to have a strong & simple melody but without it, you don’t have much of a song, right?
Paul seems to be a perfect writer of simple, childlike songs. I mean, look at All Together Now. That was my favorite Beatles song growing up. It’s the very first song I ever heard of the Beatles. I do like Hello, Goodbye, but I think I am the Walrus was better, in my opinion. Maybe not in the public’s eye, but in mine.
Great art is simple. Besides he wrote for the international consumption. Everyone knows Hello / Goodbye, Stop / Go, Yes / No etc. I say buck / you say doe????? For Pete’s sake. That’s why you’re not arguably the greatest songwriter of 20th century. While we’re at it, didn’t Lennon always whined about wanting to get back to the basics of R&R? Yeah, ‘I’m the eggman, I’m the walrus’ is really music for the masses. I take the do-do-do, da-da-da of Paul anyday.
While we’re at it, Lennon didn’t always “whine” about wanting to return to the basics of R&R. Actually Walrus was the last acid song Lennon wrote,.
I have to say, ‘Hello, Goodbye’ was never one of my favorite Beatles songs. It has a good melody and arrangements, but it just never struck me as being novel or interesting, compared to their other singles. Can’t say I liked the violas either.
In spite of the quote from Lewisohn in which Paul speaks of them singing, “heba, heba hello,” in the coda, my ears tell me I’m hearing them sing, “Hey la, heba hello.” And at 3:10-3:11 Paul sings over the background what seems to me to be “Hey-la,” which would fit with that. Here is a link to a video on YouTube with the vocals alone. What does it sound like to you who read this?
aren’t they singing “heyla, hey aloha”?
To my ears it sounds like:
Hey la
Hey la
Hello ah
I’ve always heard that same thing on the original, but when he performs it live he always very clearly sings the “Heba” lyrics.
I have to agree with Johnny on this one: It ‘smells a mile away’.
Certainly no comparison with ‘I Am the Walrus’.
Funny though I remember that when this single came out, ‘Walrus’ got an awful lot of commercial radio airplay too.
John L, I always heard that, too. I think “Hey la, hey la, hello” would sound better. That part of the song would always bother me. Frank, I think you’re absolutely right. No comparison.
Walrus is a great Lennon song. but it is not a great song for the ages. It will not be understood (? ) or appreciated by many generations to come. Already people are less interested in it than they are in McCartney’s simple songs. They are universally appealing. Paul wrote more of the commercial stuff. You may call it shallow, but without it, there would be no great success for the Beatles or anyone else. More of Paul’s songs will go down as standards which can be appreciated by people of all musical tastes. But John wrote his share of commercial songs too. And clunkers: Bungalo Bill, Me and My Monkey, Good Night, Dear Prudence, I Dig a Pony are just a few I can think of with lackluster tunes and weak lyrics by John. And Paul wrote his share of great ones: Let it Be, Lady Madonna, I Saw Her Standing There, Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby, Get Back, Hey Jude, Blackbird and more. I can’t understand how John could be so nasty and hateful to his “best friend”. I can only put it down to jealousy, which any of the original staff and inner circle of the Beatles will testify to and already have.
So how were the Beatles in person
since you know them so well?
Me and My Monkey is not the name of the song, and to call it lackluster is laughable. To call Dear Prudence lackluster with weak lyrics is even more laughable.
There is nothing remotely weak about Dear Prudence. It is one of Lennon’s best from the final years of the Fab Four. The other songs you mention..meh
Hello Goodbye is a great song. It’s fun. one of their best sellers worldwide. If they only did Walrus type songs, they wouldn’t have gotten too far. It’s too weird and they needed commercial songs to make money and stay alive. John wrote his share of commercial songs too. In fact, rock and roll is basically a VERY commercial and shallow music form . Always was . Paul was just doing it right. Why would John complain about that? He really was a bit of a jerk.
I remember playing my friend’s copy of this 45 right after he bought it. And- as usual- I turned it over to listen to the flip side. Forty-plus years later, it’s become another single with the better song on the B-side. I remember reading a story about how Mark Lindsay and Terry Melcher, the Raiders’ producer, listened to “Walrus”, then Terry saying “What the (BLEEP) do we do now?” All of a sudden, the pop music world got a whole new dimension.
That was actually Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever, but I’m sure H,G/IATW didn’t make things any easier for Lindsay and Melcher!
When this came out I was delivering the daily papers along Wimpole Street. The Asher’s were one of my customers. I would always learn the latest Beatles single and whistle it loudly as I pushed the paper through the letter-box. My hope was that Paul was there and would feel good that the paper boy had picked up the melody a day after the first radio plays. ‘Hello Goodbye’ was an easy song to ‘catch’
A good while later, in sadder times I sat on my trade-bike outside the same house, holding the Sunday papers that contained the headlines stating that ‘Jane Asher’s father had committed suicide in the basement of the family home’. I was wondering whether it would be better to tactfully lose this week’s edition rather than them have to face reading it.
In the end I decided once I’d pushed them through to drop on the hall mat they could make that decision for themselves.
John, this is a very powerful snippet of what must be a longer, riveting story. Thank you for sharing it. I had never heard of Jane Asher’s father tragically commiting suicide in their home, which is an eerie subtext to the song “Hello, Goodbye.” You probably have other pertinent observations, and I hope you post them on this site.
I never quite got this one. Musically it is interesting, but the lyrics seem contrived. Some folks state that is the reason why it is a great song . I think that Lennon can get away with semantic gymnastics, but Paul doesn’t pull this one off for me. It seems that it is a partial song with the rest just looped until it changes at the ending. almost a filler tune. – it’s no Penny Lane.
It was a song with upbeat momentum, about making something out of nothing. So long Elvis, Buddy Holly, John Kennedy, Cold War, the Fifties, Vietnam. Hello the Sixties. young people, electric guitar, different lifestyles, different politics, new reinterpretations. It echoed the times. Something new was happening. The beginning of something new..
I was reading Fred Hoyle’s history about theories of the solar system. Galileo fit right in.
The guitar riffs hooked me. ‘I say hello’ and the guitar riff begins. Strong electric guitar momentum that just takes off. The lead guitar leads the rest. The lyrics fill in and the organ layers onto the guitar. The drum fills in between riffs and keeps the momentum going.
Looking back fifty years later it’s one of my favorite Beatles’ tunes. Don’t know why. I can’t stand some of Paul’s songs after all these years, like “Hey Jude”, “Yesterday”, and “Let it Be” but I really like this one.
I like it well enough but it’s no “Walrus”. It’s also an example of something that really became annoying with Paul in his solo career: Nonsense songs immaculately produced. See “Let ’em In”.
Let’em In is anything but nonsense, it’s a song of praise for members of his family and people Paul has admired and respected over the years. People who have made a positive impact on the world like Martin Luther King, The Everly Brothers . Hardly nonsense.
“I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello” sounds vocally as much like Lennon as it does McCartney, in sharp contrast to McCartney solo work, where his vocal idiosyncrasies threaten to overtake the song. The song has a good arrangement, including the vocal arrangement, plus nice work by Starr and Harrison. In all, enough sonic complexity to make one forgive a simple lyric. The “flip” was an amazing piece, and along with “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “A Day in the Life,” cemented Lennon’s reputation as a captivating lyricist. Having both songs available is what set The Beatles apart from the wannabes. There was the instantly accessible A side paired with a powerful B side that I have never tired of.
Always thought it a pity they didn’t work it into MMT somewhere. Riding off in the bus singing ‘Hello, Goodbye’, kind of fits.
To people who take this song seriously, Hello Goodbye will never be a great one. It may be an extended whismical afterthought, but it captured the spirit of the times in a winning way. It may make a difference when you first heard it — I was seven and it was easy to sing and understand. Mostly it was fun. Walrus was an embarrassment.
This is my favorite song i love the instrumentation and thelyrics a simple song??? yeah it is but i love it i play this on my keyboards all the time:)
Paul had always been the showbiz beatle, Hello goodbye is one of my least favorite beatles songs, trouble is, along with “till there was you”, “Hold me tight”, “yesterday”, “when I’m 64” and “Maxwell’s silver hammer”, all of them by Paul. The older I get, the more I feel Paul’s beatle work shallow. Obviously, “Walrus” has stood the test of time and “Hello goodbye” hasn’t. a pretty face may last a year or two!
Walrus wasn’t even that popular in 67. It was not well received by too many people and got much less airplay than Hello Goodbye. It was considered weird and nonsensical. I was 15 at the time. Walrus will not stand up well, it appeals to a limited audience, and will not be recorded in many styles, like classical, by many artists. And what has a pretty face got to do with any of this?
It’s a line from John’s “How Do You Sleep” which is allegedly a knock against Paul. I like John but sometimes Jealous John could be a bitter Jerk.
This is such an underrated pop song. The fact that basically on a dare Paul came up with this, to prove a point, is incredible. Illustrates his genius for melody in a big way.
Hello Goodbye is a great song. Yes, the lyrics are contrived, silly. So what? One of McCartney’s great gifts was his openness. He would go with an idea without inhibition. On top of the simple lyrics is a simple chord progression that reflects the thesis-antithesis-reply and oh-what-the-hell, let’s just enjoy it. All the simple elements come together in a unity of expression buoyed up by McCartney’s uninhibited enthusiasm, and his utterly natural musical sense. The thing rings, and it has–something that I didn’t notice anybody say above–amazing energy. The song explodes forth from the beginning and it sustains tremendous energy. There’s not a lot of popular music that expresses such emotional energy–not bashing and thrashing, but EMOTIONAL energy. Tell me: what other Beatles songs express joy so purely and effectively?
You’ve explained perfectly why I love this song. It’s energetic and full of life, Paul was great at those types of songs. Why is making people feel happy to be alive such a “bad” thing to some?
I love this song because of the drumming. Not many people here noticed that, but it has one of the best Ringo style fills of any Beatles song.
dear marcos i agree Ringos drumming drives that song just saw him and the All stars great showman
Dear “Pat” of 3 Sept 2015: Re “pretty face”? Check out “How do you sleep?” off “Imagine”. “Imagine” is a solo album by John Lennon. A friend of Lennon’s (at the time) named George Harrison played on that particular track. There is an even nastier lyric on a YouTube video of the two of them playing the song. This track was written in response to perceived slight’s they took offense from McCartney’s “Ram” album. Good luck!
I think the song really sucks. It has no rock n roll element, just a cheap pop song, one off by The Beatles. I’ve heard 400 garage rock songs that weren’t hits that sounded 100 times better than Hello Goodbye. Definitely not their best.
how anyone can say hello goodbye is better than walrus is beyond me. no accounting for taste.
You are correct. George Martin done a fantastic job on Walrus.
“”Hello Goodbye” is just so catchy and I have always loved it. It is another example of Paul McCartney’s gift for melody.It is not his greatest song.But it is a great pop song. Like John Lennon I love the ending. “I Am The Walrus” on the other side is a rock/pop masterpiece, written of course by John Lennon. It is one of my favorite songs. People argue about this and that but these great contrasts in songs and styles by the Beatles writers is part of what makes The Beatles the greatest group ever.
I just can’t believe it! “Hello goodbye” is the nadir of the Beatles singles, it’s almost embarassing! and i’d just like to point out that Frank Zappa used to cover “I am the walrus” live, respecting the arrangements from 1967. HG is bubblegum pop, could have been the Turtles or the Bee gees as far as I’m concerned. I’m sure it became the A side of the single because it was so simple it became a radio favourite! I even prefer “All together now” but they kept that one for the “Yellow submarine” soundtrack!
I was the A side because it was a hit single all over the world, getting to Number one for Christmas and staying there for 7 weeks. What is it you don’t understand about music marketing?
I am the Walrus may well be the better of the two but that doesn’t it deep and meaningful. A
clever song, full of playground references. And to write a simple song (as many of Paul’s seem on the surface) can be just as hard to write or play as a ‘complex’ one. Personally I’m not so keen on Paul’s more whimsical songs, but mainly because they detract from the brilliance of his other songs. Paul’s Beatles output was not shallow, and to call his music ‘commercial’ is pointless (one could accuse the great classical music composers of the same thing for that matter). Such dated opinions disappeared in the 1980s.
Always nice to see someone’s opinion stated as fact. Different strokes for different folks people.
Personally, I like the song. The only thing that strikes me as slightly off is actually Paul’s voice. It’s a bit too high for me. I’d like to hear it a bit rawer. But the music is great. The ascending and descending notes and the drum fills make this one.
And listen again to the outro. Not the “Hela…” stuff, but Paul’s woos and n-cha, n-cha’s. Then go listen to Michael Jackson’s solo stuff from the 80’s and 90’s. Methinks someone stole something from someone.
I love Lennon’s songs, but seem to love Macca’s songs just a little more. Little surprised they just didn’t release “I Am The Walrus” as another A-Side single. Surely they could have thrown another song from the MMT EP on the B-Side.
Anyone think this song is better than “I am the Walrus” now? PTxS
Not to bad of a song just a subtle reminder of how different Paul and Johnson were , day and night, hello goodbye
It was George who answered a question about how they wrote songs, something like ‘we just try to make every song different from the last’. On the whole I think it’s true. There’s no other song like Hello Goodbye. It bursts in totally fresh. Totally memorable to me as a 13 y-old. If examined closely, like most things deconstructed, it may produce negative comments. I agree that Lennon was angry and jealous. Paul did not engage with such negativity. I am a George fan primarily. I remember Paul saying both he and John really like old music songs – vaudeville and all that – and I think that John tried to deny that when they got older and more famous; wanting to be the political angry young man. They were all great. Including Ringo – spare me the ‘Ringo was lucky’ argument…
Why even bother to quote John’s cynical comments?
This song, along with examples like Oh Blah Di, Oh Blah Da – are great examples of what made the Beatles so unparalleled. Some of these songs almost seem like fragments, or “exercises” (in this case — a dare) in what they could achieve with a simple idea, or a few random notes that sprung from their imagination. Paul and John in combination could – and did – deliver better than anyone before or since. Like I always tell my kids, “The Beatles could s**t out a good song. A great one took just a little longer, and an unforgettable classic just slightly longer than that.”
without a doubt HG was a great commercial song, #1, sold millions, easy to sing along with etc. but walrus is truly a masterpiece and should have never been relegated to the b side, it should have been the centerpiece of an album and given the most prominent placement, like a day in the life… last as nothing could come after it.
Interesting that Paul said he was advocating the more positive side of the duality, yet in the very first line he takes the negative side. And, considering context, “go, go, go” could be negative as well.
The best part of the song was always the hula dancers…
Personally I’m not so keen on Hello Goodbye or any of Paul’s more whimsical songs, mainly because they detract from the brilliance of his other songs. Unfortunately, as well, they appear to provide an opportunity for his detractors to take cheap pot shots at his songwriting. I am the Walrus may well be the better of the two, a clever song full of playground references, but deep and meaningful it is not. Paul is not shallow and too often the subtlety of his songs is mistaken for simplicity. Whatever the case, simple songs can be just as difficult to write, if not more so, than supposedly ‘complex’ songs. And shouldn’t lyrics fit the mood and style of the music for a song to work as a whole? For it to be a case of whether John is better than Paul or vice versa seems pointless. Accusations of Paul’s songs being more mainstream or “commercial” are old hat and unnecessarily dismissive. After all, many of the great classical composers were commissioned to write pieces for the royal courts of Europe, and ordinary people of the day thronged to hear live performances of their works.
I am the Walrus may be the better of the two, but that doesn’t make it deep and meaningful. A clever song, full of playground references. Personally I’m not so keen on Paul’s more whimsical songs, but mainly because they detract from the brilliance of his other songs. A simple song (as Paul’s sometimes appear on the surface) can be just as hard to write or play, if not more so, than a ‘complex’ one. Paul’s Beatles output is not shallow, and to say it is commercial is pointless (you could say the same of the great classical composers for that matter). Such dated attitudes belong back in the 1970s.
This song is an absolute throwaway, one of the few by Paul.
Imagine throwing away a song the was number 1 in the UK for seven weeks, and reached #1 in 10 other countries.
It’s hilarious that John would say about this song : “three minutes of contradictions and meaningless juxtapositions”, while advocating his song of meaningless, chanted phrases and disjointed words.
Having said that, I never thought much of this song and rarely listen to it. But, I think the same of “Walrus” as a song. That’s another example of the recording / arrangement being far better than the melody and lyrics.
Once again, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed your comments and debate about “Hello Goodbye” as the song of the day.
My observations will be brief. Like the 45 rpm release of “Eleanor Rigby” (side A) and “Yellow Submarine” (side B), the Beatles (and record company) on occasion, would release a more serious song with a lighter one. I believe that “Hello Goodbye” and “I Am the Walrus” reflect this juxtaposition perfectly. I think that both songs were intended to be seen as an example or snippet of the creative diversity of the Beatles at that point in time. Of course, this would be totally demoralizing to other recording artists of the time because no one could top the Beatles for writing such incredible music.
Another thing, this song was the first single released after the death of Brian Epstein. I truly believe that Paul’s lyrics are a direct reaction to the loss of their manager who tried to tightly control them as a group. The negative side of the antonym, in my opinion, reflects Brian’s attempts whereas the positive side reflects their newfound freedom with Brian’s passing.
These are just my thoughts. No one mentioned Brian Epstein’s passing so I thought I’d put my two cents in.
Wow. This particular song really brought out an especially bad Paul vs. John session. I think the way to talk about a song is to talk about the song as it is, and not compare it to some other song that it isn’t — and I really like Teddy Boy’s comment about how demoralizing this single’s A and B sides together must have been to their contemporaries.
Personally, when I first discovered the Beatles, about 11 or 12, I loved Hello Goodbye; I thought the harmonies and background vocals were fantastic and I loved the tune. As I got older though, it got more and more annoying, and now I usually skip it. I find some of Paul’s occasionally high-falutin’ explanations of the meaning behind some of his songs to be stretching it a bit, like he doesn’t want to admit he got away with a piece of fluff. Even if the intent was real, the execution sort of trivializes the intent. Paul sometimes strikes me a little like SNL’s John Lovitz’s portrayal of Picasso, scribbling anything on a napkin, tossing it in the air, while proclaiming, “I’m Picasso!”
The Beatles were bigger than the sum of their parts. Everyone knows this. Each of them had strengths and weaknesses as musicians and humans. Everyone knows this, too. Ugh, I can’t stand it; why do I keep reading the comments? Joe, you run a great site, but this endless Batman v. Superman thing is tedious. You should create a special post or forum just for that, and let everyone go at it. Maybe that will give us more time to talk about how great Ringo is! Peace and love, everybody!!
A highly catchy and commercial tune, if a bit lightweight
What I don’t understand is why the single wasn’t a double A side with Walrus, they did that with WCWIO/Day Tripper and YS/ER, so the precedent was there, YS/ER being the perfect example of the singalong on one side and the “deeper” song on the other
Does anyone know if Hello Goodbye was offered to the Yellow Submarine filmmakers? I have one animator recalling it on a demo tape that came from Lennon “for the film,” but he is not sure and no one else has mentioned it. Was Hello Goodbye always originally intended for Magical Mystery Tour? Does anyone know if they thought to offer it to Yellow Submarine at some point? I guess not if they thought it was good enough for a single, it was certainly not a “throwaway,” as they were calling the new songs they gave to the Submarine.
Robert Christgau, probably the best American rock critic, considers “Hello Goodbye” to be a masterpiece. He discusses it briefly at RobertChristgau.com.
I’m fascinated by The Beatles and the progression of their careers. Upon reading interviews and listening to the albums, it’s apparent that John Lennon was the leader and one responsible for most of their early success. He definitely seems to be the principal song writer on every album through Revolver and Rubber Soul. Then, Paul takes over. He had the idea for Pepper, the idea for MMT, the idea for Abbey Road, and the idea for Let it Be. Not sure about The White Album. It’s really interesting the way it shifted. Paul because a workaholic that would half the album done by the time Lennon got there and this had to have Lennon somewhat paranoid and feeling threatened. What was clearly his band for the most part was now Paul’s…so based on that and based on John’s own self-doubt and depression it doesn’t really surprise me to see John bashing so much of the later stuff (primarily Paul’s stuff). Hello, Goodbye is an example of that. True, the Lyrics are pretty lame by Beatle’s standards, but musically it’s one of The Beatle’s best. Yet John didn’t want to acknowledge that.
For me, side 2 of Abbey Road is the best The Beatles ever did, and to see John discount it as garbage that made no sense is disappointing. But it was mainly Paul’s work so there you go…
John Lennon was not the principal songwriter on Rubber Soul and Revolver. Where did you get that idea? I’m sick of hearing that Paul only caught up with John in 1966. That’s wrong. He was John’s equal from the start. It’s easy to forget that Paul’s song Like Dreamers Do was instrumental in the Beatles securing their recording contract. It’s possible that this irked John. From 1962 to 1964, McCartney was writing far more songs than Lennon but giving them away to others – possibly made to in favour of letting John have his way, except for co-writing their early big hits. At the time, their singles and albums were regarded as the Beatles singles or albums, not “John’s” or “Paul’s” singles or albums.
Right on, Kalle!
“Rubber Soul” Album –
1. “Drive My Car” – written mainly by Paul McCartney (Lennon/McCartney).
2. “Norwegian Wood” – written mainly by John Lennon (Lennon/McCartney).
3. “You Won’t See Me” – written mainly by Paul McCartney (Lennon/McCartney).
4. “Nowhere Man” – written mainly by John Lennon (Lennon/McCartney).
5. “Think For Yourself” – written mainly by George Harrison (Harrison).
6. “The Word” – written by Both Lennon and McCartney (Lennon/McCartney).
7. “Michelle” – written mainly by Paul McCartney (Lennon/McCartney).
8. “What Goes On” – written mainly by John Lennon (Lennon/McCartney/Starkey) – Sung by Ringo.
9. “Girl” – written mainly by John Lennon (Lennon/McCartney).
10. “I’M Looking Through You” – written mainly by Paul McCartney (Lennon/McCartney).
11. “In My Life” – written mainly by John Lennon ( Lennon/McCartney).
12. “Wait” – written mainly by Paul McCartney (Lennon/McCartney).
13. “If I Need Someone” – written mainly by George Harrison (Harrison).
14. “Run For Your Life” – written mainly by John Lennon (Lennon/McCartney).
John Lennon – 6 Songs
Paul McCartney – 5 Songs
George Harrison – 2 Songs
Both John and Paul – 1 Song
Is John the dominant force on “Rubber Soul” Album? No!
The Beatles were the best band in history. That will never change. Having said that, there is a school of thought that because they were, every song they ever wrote was genius.
“Hello Goodbye” is a case in point. The lyrics are grade school material, and the melody, if made a little less
rock and roll could have served “Up with People” that came to my junior high.
So, let me have it. I have shot down a Beatles song. Deservedly so.
Hey does anyone have a guess as to wether John’s BV on the chorus was based on George’s ascending guitar riff in the chorus?
or the other way around? I tend to think the former, but John’s contribution to Paul’s was often a counter melody on the chorus or verse.