Home recording • Goodbye

As a follow-up to Mary Hopkin’s debut single “Those Were The Days” (released in September 1968) and first album “Post Card” (released in February 1969), Paul McCartney decided to write a new song for her next single.

The result was “Goodbye,” which Paul recorded as a demo – reportedly at his home – and had pressed onto a Dick James acetate at Apple’s headquarters at 3 Savile Row. This acetate was intended for Mary to learn the song and for arranger Richard Hewson to prepare the orchestral score. The acetate was later sold at auction on December 22, 1981.

Paul’s demo of “Goodbye” was eventually released as part of the the “Abbey Road” 50th-anniversary re-release in 2019. However, according to a member of Mortimer—a band signed to Apple at the time — Paul may not have recorded the demo at home, but rather at Apple Studio with assistance from George Martin.

Mary Hopkin recorded her version of “Goodbye” on March 1 and 2, 1969. It was released as her second single on March 28, 1969.

Paul has an idea for my next single, but it won’t be for a while yet. I don’t think there’s any need to rush after ‘Those Were The Days’, because, really, this is the follow-up.

Mary Hokpin – Interviewed during the launch party for “Post Card”, February 13, 1969 – From New Musical Express – February 22, 1969

I didn’t have in mind any more Russian folk songs so I just wrote one for her. I thought it fit the bill. It wasn’t as successful as the first one but it did all right. My main memory of it is from years later, going on a boat trip from the north of Scotland to the Orkney Islands. The skipper of the boat was called George, and he told me it was his favourite song. And if you think of it from a sailor’s point of view, it’s very much a leaving-the-port song. He had the strangest Scottish accent, almost sort of Norwegian, as the Orkneyans do. He was quite proud of the fact that that was his favourite song.

Paul McCartney – From “Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now” by Barry Miles, 1997

‘Those Were the Days’ was her most successful song, and it was a song I knew would be a hit. In fact, it was a big hit. Number one in several countries. Then I was looking for something to follow that, so I thought, ‘Well, I’ll just write something in the same whimsical tone.’

Even today, over fifty years later, what interests me in this lyric – and I don’t think I’ve ever done it before or since – is the use of the same word over and over, in each line. So ‘Please don’t wake me until late / Tomorrow comes and I will not be late / Late today when it becomes tomorrow.’ I would normally shy away from that and try and find another word that isn’t just a repeat, but I think repetition, sometimes, is effective. ‘Leave your flowers at my door / I’ll leave them for the one who waits behind’. The word ‘lonely’ is used in the same way in the third verse.

‘Goodbye’ was in the tradition of the ‘I’m leaving, but I’ll be back soon’ kind of song you used to hear when you were a kid. They’d be requested on the radio, because it’d be going out to some military people who would be stationed in Bahrain or Christmas Island or Hong Kong or somewhere. Or there was a tradition in Liverpool of joining the Merchant Navy. […] I’d imagine I was one of the home crowd, thinking, ‘Gosh, they’re missing this with all the uncles and aunties and all the fun of being at home.’ It would be sad.

Paul McCartney – From “The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present“, 2021

We got a memo from McCartney saying that he wanted material for Mary Hopkin’s new single, and he had everybody in the company trying to write her something. We wrote a song and put it down, but nothing happened. I remember I was down in the main studio. I was at Apple by myself, and I went down to the studio and heard a guitar strumming. It was just George Martin and Paul McCartney in the studio, and the lights were out. I sat in the corner and listened to Paul put down a version of “Goodbye,” and George was putting it down on tape. The studio was in shambles, but they recorded that demo there.

Tom Smith, from the band Mortimer – From “Those Were The Days 2.0: The Beatles And Apple” by Stefan Granados

Session activities

1. Goodbye

   Written by Paul McCartney

   Recording

   AlbumOfficially released on Abbey Road (50th anniversary boxset)

Staff

Musicians

Going further

Solid State: The Story of "Abbey Road" and the End of the Beatles

Acclaimed Beatles historian Kenneth Womack offers the most definitive account yet of the writing, recording, mixing, and reception of Abbey Road. In February 1969, the Beatles began working on what became their final album together. Abbey Road introduced a number of new techniques and technologies to the Beatles' sound, and included "Come Together," "Something," and "Here Comes the Sun," which all emerged as classics.

Buy on Amazon