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TL;DR:

  • The Beatles’ “Hello, Goodbye” ends with nearly one minute of gibberish lyrics.
  • Danny Boyle loved that part of the song so he worked it into his Fab Four musical Yesterday.
  • “Hello, Goodbye” was a much bigger hit in the United Kingdom than it was in the United States.
A black-and-white still from The Beatles' "Hello, Goodbye" music video
The Beatles | Keystone Features / Stringer

Only part of The Beatles‘ “Hello, Goodbye” appears in the musical film Yesterday. The director of the film explained why this is the case. In addition, he gave fans some insight into his favorite Beatles songs.

The Beatles’ ‘Hello, Goodbye’ ends with nearly 1 minute of gibberish lyrics

“Hello, Goodbye” is one of several Fab Four tracks that blurs the line between psychedelia and children’s music. It boasts the sort of whimsical strangeness that could work just as well for Sesame Street as it could for Their Satanic Majesties Request. However, the last bit of “Hello, Goodbye” is vastly different from the rest of the song. In it, The Beatles sing “Helaheba-hello-a.” That phrase is gibberish.

Danny Boyle is the director of the film Yesterday. During a 2019 interview with Billboard, he was asked to name his favorite Beatles song. “The last 40 seconds of ‘Hello, Goodbye,'” he said. “That groove is just it for me. I added that snippet to a scene in the film shot in Liverpool’s Mersey Tunnel.”

Danny Boyle revealed why The Beatles’ ‘A Day in the Life’ is his favorite Beatles song

Boyle elaborated on his favorite Beatles songs. “But if I’m giving a serious answer, ‘A Day in the Life,’ because it puts together Paul and John’s genius in an edited fashion; they just handed the microphone to each other for alternate verses,” he said. “There’s something magical about that.”

Boyle also added “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” to the film even though it wasn’t in Richard Curtis’ original script. “Nearly all the songs we included were in Richard’s original script, but I did also add ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ as a coda to the film,” Boyle said. “Any English artist that intersects with reggae — and this was The Beatles’ early dabbling with it — I love.” “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” is arguably more of a ska song than a reggae song.

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John Lennon Said The Beatles’ ‘Hello, Goodbye’ ‘Smells’ Like Paul McCartney Wrote It

How ‘Hello, Goodbye’ performed on the charts in the United States and the United Kingdom

“Hello, Goodbye” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, staying on the chart for 11 weeks. “Hello, Goodbye” was initially one of the group’s non-album singles. Later, the tune appeared on the LP version of the Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack. That soundtrack topped the Billboard 200 for eight of its 93 weeks on the chart.

According to The Official Charts Company, “Hello, Goodbye” reached No. 1 in the United Kingdom for a whopping seven weeks. There, the tune remained on the chart for 12 weeks in total. Upon rerelease, “Hello, Goodbye” reached No. 63 and stayed on the chart for two weeks. Meanwhile, Magical Mystery Tour reached No. 31 and stayed on the chart for 10 weeks.

“Hello, Goodbye” is great, even if we didn’t get to hear all of it in Yesterday.

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