Download Hello Goodbye
Evangelino Cousteau
McCartney later said that the lyrics take duality as their theme. The song originated when, in response to a question from Beatles aide Alistair Taylor about songwriting, McCartney sat down at a harmonium and asked Taylor to say the opposite of whatever he said. The completed song includes a musical coda, which was improvised by the Beatles when they were recording the track in October 1967. Unimpressed with the composition, Lennon pushed for "I Am the Walrus" to be the single's A-side, before reluctantly accepting that "Hello, Goodbye" was the more commercial-sounding of the two sides. The Beatles produced three promotional films for the song, one of which was shown on The Ed Sullivan Show in America. Due to the regulations against lip-syncing on British television, none of the clips were aired there.
Among Beatles biographers, Ian MacDonald dates the composition to late September 1967,[11] while Bob Spitz says it was written in time for the Our World international television broadcast, in June that year.[12] According to Spitz, McCartney suggested "Hello, Goodbye" as the Beatles' contribution to Our World,[12] an honour that instead went to the John Lennon-composed "All You Need Is Love".[13][nb 1]
"Hello, Goodbye" is in the key of C major and in 4/4 time.[14] MacDonald describes the musical structure as "characteristically scalar" and founded on "a descending sequence in C", with "a brief touchdown on A flat as its only surprise".[15] Musicologist Walter Everett writes that the bassline in the chorus is an inverted form of the descending scale, which is accentuated on the Beatles' recording by the lead guitar part.[16]
The Beatles began recording "Hello, Goodbye" at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in October 1967,[21] towards the end of filming for their Magical Mystery Tour television special.[15] The latter was a film project that McCartney had initiated[22] in an effort to focus the group in the wake of Epstein's death that August.[23][24] Under the working title "Hello Hello", the Beatles taped the basic track for the song on 2 October,[25] with George Martin producing the session and Geoff Emerick and Ken Scott as engineers.[20] Author Richie Unterberger comments that the production and recording was unusually straightforward, relative to the experimentalism that had characterised much of the Beatles' studio work since completing Sgt. Pepper.[26] The line-up on the take selected for overdubs, take 14,[27] was McCartney on piano, Lennon on Hammond organ, George Harrison on maracas, and Ringo Starr on drums.[28]
Two violas were added to "Hello, Goodbye" at Abbey Road on 20 October.[39][40] These string parts were played by classical musicians Kenneth Essex and Leo Brinbaum,[15] and scored by Martin, who based the arrangement on a melody McCartney supplied on piano.[41] McCartney overdubbed bass guitar on 25 October and, following a trip to Nice in France to film his "Fool on the Hill" segment for Magical Mystery Tour,[40] added further bass to the track on 2 November.[42][43] A mono mix of "Hello, Goodbye" was completed that same day, and the stereo version on 6 November.[42]
"Hello, Goodbye" was selected as the Beatles' single for the 1967 Christmas season,[5] their first release since Epstein's death.[44] Lennon pushed for his composition "I Am the Walrus" to be the A-side instead, but then ceded to McCartney and Martin's insistence that "Hello, Goodbye" was the more commercial of the two tracks.[45] Lennon remained dismissive of the song;[46] he later said: "'Hello, Goodbye' beat out 'I Am the Walrus' ... Can you believe that? I began to submerge."[47] Everett writes that, had "I Am the Walrus" been the A-side, "[it] would probably have encouraged Lennon to lead the Beatles to new heights", whereas the decision to choose "Hello, Goodbye" was "one more nail in the Beatles coffin".[48][nb 4]
In Britain, Parlophone issued "Hello, Goodbye" backed by "I Am the Walrus" on 24 November 1967,[50] with the catalogue number R 5655.[51] Within a day of its release, the record had sold over 300,000 copies there.[48] It went on to top the national chart compiled by Record Retailer (later the UK Singles Chart)[52] for seven weeks, through to 23 January 1968,[53] giving the Beatles their longest run at number 1 on that chart since "She Loves You" in 1963.[54] In the process, the song became the group's fourth Christmas number 1 single in five years.[55] For three weeks from 27 December 1967, the band held the top two positions in the UK, with the Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack EP trailing "Hello, Goodbye".[56]
The single was released on 27 November in the United States, as Capitol 2056,[51] and in the issue dated 30 December replaced the Monkees' "Daydream Believer" at number one on Billboard's Hot 100, where it remained for three weeks,[57] becoming the band's fifteenth American chart-topper.[58] The single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on 15 December 1967.[59] It was later listed by Billboard magazine as the band's seventh biggest US chart hit.[58] The single was successful in many other countries, topping charts in Australia,[60] Canada,[61] West Germany, Holland and Norway.[62] It also peaked at number 2 in Ireland,[63] Austria, Belgium and Switzerland.[62]
The band made three promotional clips for "Hello, Goodbye".[71] Filmed on 10 November 1967 at the Saville Theatre in London,[72] a theatre leased by Epstein since 1966, the clips were directed by McCartney.[71][73] The first one shows the Beatles dressed in their Sgt. Pepper uniforms,[74] apart from a brief cut-away where the group are wearing their 1963-era matching collarless suits.[75][76] In author John Winn's description of the three clips, this version shows the Beatles performing the song against a psychedelic backdrop, while over the coda they are joined on the stage by female hula dancers. Starr is seen playing a miniature drum kit and, unusually, Lennon appears without his granny glasses. In the second clip, the Beatles mime to the song dressed in more conventional attire and with the stage backdrop depicting a rural setting. The third version combines footage shot during these two scenes with the band playing the song before what Winn terms a "glittery pastel backdrop".[75][nb 5]
In the US, the first promo for "Hello, Goodbye" was premiered on The Ed Sullivan Show on 26 November.[76][77] Author Mark Hertsgaard describes the film as "a slapdash affair featuring the hula dancers that was salvaged only by some ludicrously spastic dancing by Lennon".[18] Music critic Robert Christgau was also unimpressed; speculating in the May 1968 issue of Esquire on the content of the Magical Mystery Tour film, which had yet to air in America, Christgau wrote: "But if Paul McCartney's work on the film clip of 'Hello Goodbye' is any indication, we would be wise not to hope for too much."[78] In his book Rock, Counterculture and the Avant-Garde, author Doyle Greene finds it significant that Starr's miniature bass drum lacks the familiar Beatles logo, and he interprets the band's waving to the viewer while dressed in their 1963 stage attire as the Beatles "waving 'goodbye' to the mop-top era and 'hello' to the counterculture".[79]
The clip included in the 1996 Beatles Anthology video release consists of the Beatles' first Saville Theatre film, until the song's coda, which incorporates footage from all three of the original promo films.[81] The first of the original promos was included in the Beatles' 2015 video compilation 1, and all three were included in the three-disc versions of the compilation, titled 1+.[82] The BBC-compiled clip appeared as a bonus feature on the 2012 DVD reissue of Magical Mystery Tour,[83] under the title "Top of the Pops 1967".[84] In May 2013, a Vox electric guitar used by Lennon during part of the filming for "Hello, Goodbye" sold for US$408,000 at an auction in New York.[85][86][nb 6]
In a 2005 review of the Magical Mystery Tour album, Sputnikmusic lauded the song for "encapsulating everything that made the Beatles such a great pop band", and praised its piano line, Starr's drumming, and the coda.[96] Writing for AllMusic, Richie Unterberger names "Hello, Goodbye" as one of the "huge, glorious, and innovative singles" on Magical Mystery Tour,[97] while Billboard's Chris Payne rates the track among the band's "most perfect pop songs".[98] Scott Plagenhoef of Pitchfork cites it as an example of how McCartney "excelled at selling simplistic lyrics that risk seeming cloying", although he adds: "the kaleidoscopic, carnival-ride melody and interplay between lead and backing vocals ensure it's a much better record than it is a song."[99]
In the NME's 2015 list of the "100 Greatest Beatles Songs" as selected by other musicians, "Hello, Goodbye" was chosen by the Cure and ranked 91st.[100] Ultimate Classic Rock website places the track at number 45 on its list of the "Top 50 Beatles Songs",[101] while Rolling Stone ranks it last on the magazine's "100 Greatest Beatles Songs" list, with the editor remarking: "McCartney never claimed that the irresistibly bouncy 'Hello, Goodbye' was his most profound songwriting moment."[102] In 2006, the track appeared at number 36 in a similar list compiled by Mojo, accompanied by commentary from Alan McGee, who described it as "the greatest-ever pop song, bar none".[103] "Hello, Goodbye" is ranked 76th by Stephen Spignesi and Michael Lewis in their book 100 Best Beatles Songs, where the authors call it a "classic" and a "fine, fresh, fun piece of pop".[1]
James Last, the Hollyridge Strings, Bud Shank and the Soulful Strings were all among the artists who covered "Hello, Goodbye" in the year following its release in 1967.[104] Allen Toussaint, with whom McCartney worked briefly on his and Wings' 1975 album Venus and Mars,[105] released a version of the song in 1989.[106] More recent covers include recordings by Dwight Twilley[104] and the band Ash,[104] and a novelty version by Looney Tunes characters credited to "Bugs & Friends".[107]
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