A significant dissonance exists between Paul McCartney and John Lennon, which is concealed by the telepathy they are said to have shared since their early songwriting days. Often, for a couple to succeed, they must have significant differences. If Lennon and McCartney had been identical to one another, the Beatles might not have achieved the same level of success. Luckily, day and night, hello and goodbye, they were like chalk and cheese.
While Lennon and McCartney collaborated on ideas early in the Beatles discography. The idea would typically come from one member of the collaboration more than the other. Even at this early stage, McCartney demonstrated a preference for gentler ballads with upbeat lyrics, whereas Lennon embraced the esoteric and mysterious. These emerging traits impressively matured over time.
The popular Sgt. Pepper’s closer “A Day in the Life” is a perfect illustration of the differences between McCartney and Lennon. It also highlights the financial gain that resulted from their collaboration. There are two distinct instrumental and lyrical tones in the song. Lennon’s melancholy opening line, “I read the news today, oh boy,” is unmistakably his. McCartney’s upbeat opening line, “Woke up / Got out of bed,” is definitively McCartney’s.
Though there are a few exceptions, most of the time it is simple to determine which Beatle wrote which song in the group’s discography. Now that we know this, I probably don’t need to disclose which Beatles wrote “Hello, Goodbye” and “I Am The Walrus.” The latter was written by Lennon as his primary contribution to Magical Mystery Tour.
The band thought it was good enough to release as a single when it was recorded. However, in the end, McCartney’s “Hello, Goodbye” became the A-side, while Lennon’s song became the B-side.
The Beatles’ first single to be released after manager Brian Epstein passed away was “Hello, Goodbye.” The death completely shocked the band. Many historians believe this event caused administrative stress that marked the beginning of the band’s demise. Many significant factors attributed to the demise of The Beatles, with “Hello, Goodbye” being one of the less significant ones.
Lennon didn’t have the best of feelings for “Hello, Goodbye,” the song that replaced “I Am The Walrus.” Apart from this, he never liked McCartney’s absurd lyrics, which mocked in opposition to each other. “Three minutes of contradictions and meaningless juxtapositions” is how John Lennon once characterized the song.
Yes, the song is pretty “meaningless” aside from the catchy instrumentation, but what about “I Am The Walrus”? In their poetic context, eggmen, walruses, and a “naughty girl” who controversially let her “knickers down” are all equally absurd. Even though the lyrics only confuse critics, Lennon’s oblique allusions have far more depth. In short, Lennon could win every race when it comes to the bizarre.
Lennon most certainly had a right to be unhappy with his song’s position as a B-side. But McCartney was probably correct to put “Hello, Goodbye” at the top. First of all, the Magical Mystery Tour EP contained Lennon’s song in its proper place. Furthermore, as a single, it had greater universal appeal.
Although “I Am The Walrus” was undoubtedly in line with the modern psychedelic movement, “Hello, Goodbye” was more likely to strike a chord with people outside of the hipster community at the time. McCartney wrote “Hello, Goodbye” with a global audience in mind. After John Lennon’s hit song “All You Need is Love” became popular, McCartney looked for a song that was just as straightforward and attainable.
The Beatles’ “Hello Goodbye” was a huge financial success, peaking at number one on charts all over the world. This included the Dutch Singles Chart, the Danish Singles Chart, and the US Billboard Hot 100. This suggests that the A-side choice was right. But Lennon and a lot of his supporters would have probably respected the blatant substitution of “I Am The Walrus” for the A-side.
