Hello Goodbye

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“Hello Goodbye”
Single by The Beatles from the album Magical Mystery Tour in the U.S.
B-side	"I Am the Walrus"
Released	November 24, 1967 (UK) November 27, 1967 (U.S.)
Format	7"
Recorded	Abbey Road: 2 October–2 November 1967
Genre	Rock
Length	3:27
Label	Parlophone (UK) Capitol Records (U.S.)
Writer(s)	Lennon/McCartney
Producer	George Martin
The Beatles singles chronology
"All You Need Is Love" (1967) "Hello Goodbye" (1967) "Lady Madonna" (1968)
Magical Mystery Tour track listing
"I Am the Walrus" (6) "Hello Goodbye" (7) "Strawberry Fields Forever" (8)

Hello Goodbye is a 1967 song by the The Beatles. It was the Christmas single for 1967, and topped the charts in both the United States and Britain where it spent seven weeks at number one. The song also appeared on the British 'Magical Mystery Tour' EP, as well as the American Magical Mystery Tour LP, which was later adopted as the official UK version of the album.

Though the songwriting credit is Lennon/McCartney, it was written only by Paul McCartney.^{[citation needed]}

Alistair Taylor, who worked for the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, once asked McCartney how he wrote his songs, and McCartney took him into his dining room to give him a demonstration on his harmonium. He asked Taylor to shout the opposite of whatever he sang as he played the instrument. Taylor later said, "I wonder whether Paul really made up that song as he went along or whether it was running through his head already." In any case, McCartney soon had completed a demo of his newest single — originally titled "Hello Hello".

John Lennon wasn't fond of the song, which he called "three minutes of contradictions and meaningless juxtapositions." His distaste for the song grew further when it pushed "I Am the Walrus" to the B-side of the single. Though Lennon had anticipated "I Am the Walrus" being the A-side of the single, Paul McCartney and George Martin believed that "Hello Goodbye" was the more commercial tune (their judgement was vindicated when the song hit Number 1, and was particularly popular in the American charts). This dispute fed the series of debates over single releases between Lennon and McCartney which prompted Lennon to say after the Beatles' breakup, "I got sick and tired of being Paul's backup band". Lennon felt that some of his best and most innovative pieces (e.g. "I Am the Walrus") were wrongly placed as B-sides to songs he regarded as "un-worthy", although he was willing to compromise with fellow songwriter McCartney during this period with songs he considered stronger, such as "Hey Jude".

The final lines of the song, where the entire band sings "Hela, hey-ba hello-a" (the portion that plays over the end titles of the Magical Mystery Tour film) came spontaneously in the studio. When the song was released, McCartney gave a more mystical explanation of the meaning of his song in an interview with Disc: "The answer to everything is simple. It's a song about everything and nothing. If you have black you have to have white. That's the amazing thing about life."

At least three promotional videos were filmed for "Hello Goodbye", but not aired by the BBC due to its strict rules on miming.

An alternate version of the song was released on The Beatles Anthology series, containing a guitar part for melody rather than the original strings.

[edit] Notes

• Hellogoodbye, an American power-pop band, did not derive its name from this song as is commonly believed. It actually comes from a quote by Screech Powers, a fictional character from the american sitcom "Saved by the Bell".

• This song was used in ESPN's promotional ad for David Beckham's first game in Major League Soccer.

• The impromptu ending was used in The Beatles Love album during "Strawberry Fields Forever," while one section of Paul singing "Hello, hello!" from the refrain was used in "Glass Onion."

• Covers of the song are used in different Target commercials, using the slogan "Hello, Goodbuy".

• Pop group Jump5 covered the song on their 2007 album Hello & Goodbye.

[edit] References

• Turner, Steve. A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song, Harper, New York: 1994, ISBN 0-06-095065-X