Recording "Hello, Goodbye"

About

On October 2, 1967, The Beatles began recording the basic track of “Hello, Goodbye“. The session continued from 7 pm to 3:30 am, during which they added overdubs onto Take 16, which already had all the previously recorded instruments on track one.

During this session, Paul McCartney recorded his double-tracked lead vocals on tracks two and three. Afterwards, Paul, John Lennon, and George Harrison added backing vocals, while John and George contributed two lead guitar parts. All of these additions were recorded onto track four.

This state of “Hello, Goodbye” was released in “Anthology 2” in 1996.

An early incarnation of Paul’s Hello, Goodbye, the master of which was issued as a single by the Beatles in November 1967 and was the Christmas number one – in Britain holding off composition from the Magical Mystery Tour double-EP set. This is Take 16 (a “reduction” of the best basic track, Take 14, from 2 October) with vocals and more guitars added on 19 October. From here the recording would be “bounced” three more times and given a number of further overdubs, so, although, there are similarities, there are also many differences between this take and the master.

From the “Anthology 2” liner notes

The session was concluded by creating a reduction mix of Take 16, combining the three tracks into one. This newly created track was named Take 17 and was intended to serve as a reference track for the addition of violas planned for the following day’s recording session.

Last updated on April 15, 2023

Songs recorded

Staff

Musicians on "Hello, Goodbye"

Paul McCartney:

Lead vocals, Backing vocals

John Lennon:

Backing vocals, Lead guitar

George Harrison:

Backing vocals, Lead guitar

Production staff

George Martin:

Producer

Ken Scott:

Engineer

Richard Lush:

Second Engineer