THE BEATLES – "Hello Goodbye"

Recently departed: the chap who played that odd violin on “Hello Goodbye”: an interesting life.

Seems to me that trying to label one “sound” as Beatlesque is a bit like calling all dogs black.

Almost every Beatle album had its shift in writing and recording that gave each phase of their musical progression a signature sound. From ” Love Me Do’ to “Hard Days Night ” to “Help” to ” Norwegian Wood” to ” Elebnor RIgby ” to ‘Sgt. Pepper”….they all have readily indentifiable parts that immediately lets you know that it is The Beatles.

So it gives a lot for other bands to drawn on from folkies to rockers, that they can probably find something in the Beatle catalougue that will float their boat….at the risk of soundiung Beatleesque – but all in all, not a bad aspiration.

As for “Hello, Goodbye” – I only just realized that this is a Paul song. Because of the lyrical word play, I always thought of it as a John song. No wonder he didn’t like it much if the above quote is true.

But I like this song. It’s like two songs going in different directions at once and has that effect from the background vocals singing a separate melody and lyric.

You got yes coming and goodbye going. All ending up in one big ” aloha ” , which means hello and goodbye in Hawaiian.

Crafty beggars…..

I find it puzzling that this release wasn’t a double A-side–surely “I Am the Walrus” is the stronger recording. But I’d imagine that this simple, catchy tune was put out as the single in order to alleviate the fears of many fans that “I Am the Walrus” and similar numbers would eradicate what they loved about the Beatles, namely simple, catchy pop tunes.

No, nothing profound here. Did anyone really expect that from McCartney? But here, with the other Beatles making their contributions to the mix, the recording is free from that twerpy cloyingness that made the lack of profundity more readily evident in McC’s solo work and with Wings.

So the Beatles gave the people what they wanted with “Hello Goodbye.” They wouldn’t do that too many more times afterwards.

Still, I retain a lot of fondness for the song. It has its quirky charm. I always appreciated the intricate backing vocals that John and George did here and elsewhere, and, yes, I agree that the song is a definitive example of what being “Beatlesesque” was all about.

Having been born in Honolulu, I’m always amused, too, at the weird mispronunciation of “aloha.” The only way I figured out what “hey-la hey-a-hey-lo-ah” meant was when I saw the video with the hula dancers wiggling about at the end. Ah, that tropical rhythm that Ringo puts down in the closing seconds– Mahalo, Beatles!

“Goodbye”/”Walrus” most certainly was treated as a double A side in the U.S., with “Walrus” getting massive play on Top 40 radio; there’s something about the way things were counted that made “Hello Goodbye” the official designation on the charts, or the songs were given different spots on the charts (charts considered airplay as well as sales even then in the U.S.). Other major double-A sides from that time were “All You Need Is Love”/”Baby You’re a Rich Man,” and “I’m a Believer”/”Steppin’ Stone,” the latter being a massive hit from a few months earlier.

As for what’s Beatlesque, Brian’s right, there were distinct Beatles sounds; but I think the biggest difference would have been early Beatles tracks like “Cathy’s Clown” “Not A Second Time” and “No Reply” etc. as imitated by the Yardbirds in “Mister You’re a Better Man Than I” and the Kinks in “You Shouldn’t Be Sad” (and I think there’s an influence on Marley too, and I wouldn’t be surprised if spirituals and folk music are in the ancestry, as well as the Everly Bros. and the girl groups); I don’t have the music theory to explain it; something about melodies that circle up and down, often landing on a minor key. And something about the harmonies… I’d think the later “Beatlesque” has its rousing elements (stuff like “Baby You’re a Rich Man” and “Hello Goodbye”) but is most typified by the ethereal “aahs” during the break in “A Day in the Life,” right after Paul has a smoke and goes into a dream (which follows the chord pattern to “Hey Joe,” and was lifted whole by Deep Purple at the start of “Hush”).

There’s other stuff too, of course.

This may not be the Beatles’ finest three minutes, but I like the way it harks back to the innocence, exhilaration and joy that radiate from their early records. Also, only a heart of stone could contemplate the look on George Harrison’s face in the promotional film without laughing. Unlike Ringo, Harrison never appreciated how lucky he was.

Dear Daniel we hope voting skate off you can we did vote Duncan Dancing on ice Thanks for Helping you Look After safe Happy Judge Jason Have a Good Time Judge Have a Great Time Thank you i see you soon Love karen

What a suitable beginning!

(In Australia this didn’t hit number one until shortly after I was born, but near enough. Although I’m fine with The Royal Guardsmen’s “Snoopy’s Christmas” too.)

this just got GLEEed in the latest episode (14?) although minus the hayla-shayla bit at the end

@17, totally agree with you – the plot switches were bewildering at times – perhaps because they were rebooting the series they felt they needed to mix things up. I liked the line about dolphins being gay sharks though

DESERT ISLAND DISCS WATCH:

Tristan Jones, sailor(1980).

Say hello and then goodbye to them: http://musicsoundsbetterwithtwo.blogspot.com/2011/11/we-are-all-together-beatles-magical.html Thanks for reading (and waiting!) everyone!

even when I was a kid I think I thought this was trite – not something I thought (or think) of ‘Yellow Submarine’. Both Lennon & McCartney seemed to adopt a less is more approach to some of their lyrics from this point and sailed perilously close to insipid doggerel. It also lacks the musical and sonic richness of their best work. This picks up a bit with the aloha bit at the end but it’s poor by their standards

Hard to defend this single. Meaningless lyrics from McCartney here.