Hello, Goodbye / I Am The Walrus

“Hello, Goodbye / I Am The Walrus” was the sixteenth UK single from The Beatles.

From Wikipedia:

“Hello, Goodbye” was selected as the Beatles’ single for the 1967 Christmas season, their first release since Epstein’s death. Lennon pushed for his composition “I Am the Walrus” to be the A-side instead, but then ceded to McCartney and Martin’s insistence that “Hello, Goodbye” was the more commercial of the two tracks. Lennon remained dismissive of the song; he later said: “‘Hello, Goodbye’ beat out ‘I Am the Walrus’ … Can you believe that? I began to submerge.” Everett writes that, had “I Am the Walrus” been the A-side, “[it] would probably have encouraged Lennon to lead the Beatles to new heights”, whereas the decision to choose “Hello, Goodbye” was “one more nail in the Beatles coffin”.

In Britain, Parlophone issued “Hello, Goodbye” backed by “I Am the Walrus” on 24 November 1967, with the catalogue number R 5655. Within a day of its release, the record had sold over 300,000 copies there. It went on to top the national chart compiled by Record Retailer (later the UK Singles Chart) for seven weeks, through to 23 January 1968, giving the Beatles their longest run at number 1 on that chart since “She Loves You” in 1963. In the process, the song became the group’s fourth Christmas number 1 single in five years. For three weeks from 27 December 1967, the band held the top two positions in the UK, with the Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack EP trailing “Hello, Goodbye”.

The single was released on 27 November in the United States, as Capitol 2056, and in the issue dated 30 December replaced the Monkees’ “Daydream Believer” at number one on Billboard’s Hot 100, where it remained for three weeks, becoming the band’s fifteenth American chart-topper. The single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on 15 December 1967. It was later listed by Billboard magazine as the band’s seventh biggest US chart hit. The single was successful in many other countries, topping charts in Australia, Canada, West Germany, Holland and Norway. It also peaked at number 2 in Ireland, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland.

“Hello, Goodbye” was included on the American Magical Mystery Tour album, which Capitol Records compiled by adding five non-album singles tracks from 1967 to the six songs issued in most other countries on the double EP. In the Magical Mystery Tour film, which aired on British television on 26 December 1967, the song’s coda plays over the end credits. “Hello, Goodbye” subsequently appeared on Beatles compilation albums such as 1967–1970 and 1. As part of EMI’s policy of celebrating the 20th anniversary of each Beatles single, “Hello, Goodbye” was reissued in the UK in November 1987 and peaked at number 63 on the UK Singles Chart. “Hello, Goodbye” was released in America as “Hello Goodbye” on both the single and the parent LP.

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