Hello, Goodbye

Paul McCartney wrote Hello, Goodbye in 1967. It was recorded in October and November of 1967 (in 21 takes) and released on the Magical Mystery Tour album (November 24, 1967). Paul sings lead and plays bass, piano and percussion. John is on harmonies, with George. Harrison plays lead guitar. Ringo is on drums, maracas and tambourine. Two violas are also present in the production. Hello, Goodbye can also be heard on The Beatles, 1967-1970 and The Beatles 1. The single rose to number 1 in the US and the UK in December of 1967.

Paul later said that Hello, Goodbye was about "duality," which is hard to contradict. The lyrics are a string of opposites and, in John's terms, a set of "contradictions and meaningless juxtapositions" that "smells a mile away." Lennon disliked the song. In retrospect, it seems more to be nonsense than some deep think piece, fraught with obscure meanings. Lennon's song, I Am the Walrus, was supposed to be the a-side for the single release, but was relegated to the b-side. This may explain in part why he judged Hello, Goodbye so severely. For the first time in a Beatles single there is a dead-stop false ending with a sudden restart, leading to a rhythmic outro the band called a "Maori finale." It was a last-minute addition to the song in the studio, and the only part of the song that Lennon approved of.