HELLO GOODBYE

I think that 1967 was a great musical year for THE BEATLES, having previously released two great singles ("Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane", "All You Need is Love" / "Baby, You're a Rich Man") and a great album ("Sgt. Pepper's...."). In late 1967 they also were going to release in the U.K. a double-EP project with the songs from their "Magical Mystery Tour" film (with the film being very criticized, but at least the music of the film was better for some critics) and this "Hello, Goodbye" / "I Am the Walrus" single. In the U.S., all the songs from these singles and the double-EP were released in an LP titled "Magical Mystery Tour", with it being one of their best U.S. releases. All these songs have some Psychedelic influences, so they worked very well being released together in that LP in the U.S.

"Hello, Goodbye", composed by McCartney, is more accessible than "I Am The Walrus". It has a string arrangement done by George Martin. This song is a very clear example of how some songs from the band were mixed in Stereo by Martin, with the string arrangements apperaring in one channel, and the band's instruments in the other channel.

"I Am the Walrus", composed by Lennon, is more Psychedelic, more "dark" in lyrical content, more "mysterious", more heavy, and more elaborated in its recording. I prefer this song more than "Hello, Goodbye", being a very good example of Psychedelic music, even if the lyrics have no apparent sense, at least for me. It also has an orchestral arrangement done by Martin, plus some strange sound effects and other experiments used in its recording. It also became an influential song for other bands, with SPOOKY TOOTH recording their own heavy version of the song for their "The Last Puff" album in 1970, and with TEARS FOR FEARS's "Sowing the Seeds of Love" song from 1989 being very infuenced in style by "I Am the Walrus".