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TL;DR:

  • John Lennon said The Beatles’ ‘Hello, Goodbye” was designed to be a single.
  • He wasn’t a big fan of the track and said it smelled like Paul McCartney wrote it.
  • John revealed his favorite part of “Hello, Goodbye.”
The Beatles in front of a curtain during the "Hello, Goodbye" era
The Beatles | Keystone Features / Stringer

John Lennon said The Beatles‘ “Hello, Goodbye” smelled like Paul McCartney wrote it. Subsequently, John said he wasn’t a big fan of the song. Notably, the track became a hit twice in two different decades in the United Kingdom.

John Lennon compared Paul McCartney’s bass playing for The Beatles to the bass playing on The Rolling Stones’ songs

The book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono includes a 1980 interview. In it, John discussed Paul’s musicianship. “Paul was one of the most innovative bass players that ever played bass, and half the stuff that’s going on now is directly ripped off from his Beatles period,” he said. “He was coy about his bass playing. He’s an egomaniac about everything else, but his bass playing he was always a bit coy about.

“He is a great musician who plays the bass like few other people could play it,” he continued. “If you compare his bass playing with The Rolling Stones’ bass playing and you compare Ringo’s drumming with Charlie Watts’s drumming, they are equal to them, if not better.”

John Lennon revealed his favorite part of The Beatles’ ‘Hello, Goodbye’

Subsequently, John was asked about “Hello, Goodbye.” “That’s another McCartney,” he replied. “Smells a mile away, doesn’t it? An attempt to write a single.”

John wasn’t a fan. “It wasn’t a great piece; the best bit was the end, which we all ad-libbed in the studio, where I played the piano,” he said. “Like one of my favorite bits on ‘Ticket to Ride,’ where we just threw something in at the end.”

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

“Hello, Goodbye” became a huge hit. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, staying on the chart for a total of 11 weeks. The tune appeared on some editions of the album Magical Mystery Tour. The album topped the Billboard 200 for eight weeks and stayed on the chart for a total of 93 weeks.

According to The Official Charts Company, “Hello, Goodbye” was a huge hit in the United Kingdom during the 1960s. Then, it was No. 1 for seven of its 12 weeks on the chart. In 1987, the track reached No. 63 and stayed on the chart for two weeks. On the other hand, the Magical Mystery Tour LP peaked at No. 31 and remained on the chart for 10 weeks.

“Hello, Goodbye” was a massive hit even if John wasn’t a fan.

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