Hello, Goodbye

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For the power pop band, see hellogoodbye.

"Hello, Goodbye"
Single by The Beatles
Released	24 November 1967
Format	vinyl record (7")
Recorded	October 2-November 2 1967
Genre	Pop
Length	3:27
Label	Parlophone / EMI (UK) Capitol Records (US)
Producer(s)	George Martin
Chart positions
#1 (UK) #1 (US)
The Beatles singles chronology
"All You Need Is Love"/"Baby You're a Rich Man" (1967)	"Hello, Goodbye"/"I Am the Walrus" (1967)	"Lady Madonna"/"The Inner Light" (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 Beatles. It was the Christmas single for 1967, and topped the charts in both America and Britain (where it spent seven weeks at number one). It also appeared on the American album Magical Mystery Tour.

Though the songwriting credit is Lennon-McCartney, it was written only by Paul McCartney.

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. This dispute started a 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 ("I Am The Walrus", "Across the Universe") were wrongly placed as B-sides to songs he regarded as "un-worthy" ("Hello, Goodbye" and "Lady Madonna"), although he was willing to compromise with fellow songwriter McCartney during this period with songs 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.

The song was used in an advertising campaign for Telstra's Next G network

Preceded by: "Daydream Believer" by The Monkees	Billboard Hot 100 number one single December 30, 1967	Succeeded by: "Judy in Disguise (with Glasses)" by John Fred and His Playboy Band
Preceded by: "Let The Heartaches Begin" by Long John Baldry	UK number one single December 6, 1967	Succeeded by: "Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde" by Georgie Fame
Preceded by: Tom Jones The Green Green Grass of Home	UK Christmas Number One single Hello, Goodbye 1967	Succeeded by: The Scaffold Lily The Pink

References

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

The Beatles
Singles
1962: Love Me Do | 1963: Please Please Me | From Me to You | She Loves You | I Want to Hold Your Hand | 1964: Can't Buy Me Love | I Feel Fine | Twist and Shout | A Hard Day's Night | 1965: Ticket to Ride | Help! | Day Tripper | We Can Work It Out | Yesterday | 1966: Paperback Writer | Eleanor Rigby | Yellow Submarine | 1967: Strawberry Fields Forever | Penny Lane | All You Need Is Love | Hello, Goodbye | 1968: Lady Madonna | Hey Jude | 1969: Get Back | Ballad of John and Yoko | Something | Come Together | 1970: Let It Be | The Long and Winding Road | After 1970: The Beatles Movie Medley (1982) | Free as a Bird (1995) | Real Love (1996)
B-sides
1962: P.S. I Love You | 1963: Ask Me Why | I'll Get You | Thank You Girl | 1964: Baby's in Black | I Don't Want to Spoil the Party | She's a Woman | This Boy | You Can't Do That | 1965: I'm Down | Yes It Is | Rain | 1966: What Goes On | 1967: Baby You're a Rich Man | I Am the Walrus | 1968: The Inner Light | Revolution | 1969: Don't Let Me Down | Old Brown Shoe | 1970: For You Blue | You Know My Name (Look up the Number)
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