Though the songwriting credit is Lennon/McCartney, it was written only by Paul McCartney.
Alistair Taylor, who worked for the Beatles once asked Paul McCartney how he wrote his songs, and McCartney took him into his dining room to give him a demonstration on his harmonium. Paul asked Taylor to shout the opposite of whatever he sang as he played the instrument. In any case, McCartney soon had completed a demo of his newest single — originally titled "Hello Hello".
John Lennon wasn't fond of this song, which he called "three minutes of contradictions and meaningless juxtapositions." His distaste for the song grew further when it pushed Lennon's work "I Am the Walrus" to the B-side of the single, when Lennon had anticipated "I Am the Walrus" being the A-side. Paul McCartney and famed producer George Martin believed that "Hello Goodbye" was the more commercial tune (their judgement was vindicated when the song hit Billboard Number 1, and was particularly popular in the American charts).
This dispute nurtured 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 were wrongly placed as B-sides to Paul's "nursery rhymes" John regarded as un-worthy.
The final lines of the song, where the entire band sings "Hela, hey-ba hello-a" came spontaneously in the studio.
1 comment:
I have come to respect the Beatles more now as I get older. I understand their legacy and historical place in music history. This song is quite catchy and one of the few that I actually like a lot.
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