Diving deeply into the complex work of John Lennon and Paul McCartney is perhaps one of the sincerest joys that any music fan can be a part of.

The Beatles were a group of four music lovers who found fame in the most encapsulating way. Through their music they achieved everything they had ever dreamed, jolting them into a straospheric scenario of worldwide fame and fortune. But, underneath it all, they were just four blokes from Liverpool.

Like four blokes from Liverpool might, this meant that the group would often fall out with one another, or at the very least, spend their time competing with one another. It left Lennon and McCartney, the band’s principal songwriters, at odds with one another on what might be considered their best songs, and therefore, the songs to release as singles. One such moment arose in 1967, as the group got ready to release another single.

Which song is the superior effort when tasked to choose between ‘Hello, Goodbye’ and ‘I Am the Walrus’? If you picked ‘Hello, Goodbye’, then John Lennon would disagree with all his might. The single, which was first released in 1967, marked a significant moment for the Fab Four as it was their first release following the death of Brian Epstein. ‘I Am the Walrus’, meanwhile, was relegated to the B-side, which was displeasing to Lennon. He would, of course, rather have seen it go the other way around.

Although he might have been slightly more reserved about his attitudes at the time of its release, Lennon later admitted that his distaste for ‘Hello, Goodbye’ ran deep, calling it “three minutes of contradictions and meaningless juxtapositions”.

The creative differences between Lennon and McCartney would become clear as day following the split of The Beatles and, as ‘Hello, Goodbye’ was the brainchild of Paul McCartney, it should come as little surprise that not all the band members agreed on its excellence.

Of the writing experience, Macca said: “‘Hello, Goodbye’ was one of my songs. There are Geminian influences here I think: the twins. It’s such a deep theme in the universe, duality – man woman, black white, ebony ivory, high low, right wrong, up down, hello goodbye – that it was a very easy song to write. It’s just a song of duality, with me advocating the more positive. You say goodbye, I say hello. You say stop, I say go. I was advocating the more positive side of the duality, and I still do to this day.”

Brian Epstein’s assistant Alister Taylor remembered the track being written: “Paul marched me into the dining room, where he had a marvellous old hand-carved harmonium. ‘Come and sit at the other end of the harmonium. You hit any note you like on the keyboard. Just hit it and I’ll do the same. Now, whenever I shout out a word, you shout the opposite, and I’ll make up a tune. You watch, it’ll make music’”.

“‘Black,’ he started. ‘White,’ I replied. ‘Yes.’ ‘No.’ ‘Good.’ ‘Bad.’ ‘Hello.’ ‘Goodbye’,” confessed Taylor. “I wonder whether Paul really made up that song as he went along or whether it was running through his head already.”

Lennon might not have liked the song as a whole, but he could recognise at least a few strengths of McCartney’s songwriting. He later said of the song and recording process: “That’s another McCartney. Smells a mile away, doesn’t it? An attempt to write a single. 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. Like one of my favourite bits on ‘Ticket To Ride’, where we just threw something in at the end.”

There is something great about those ad-libbed bits towards the end, exhibiting a positive moment between the two band leaders as they show off their natural talents in playing off one another. Even though John Lennon thought the song was meaningless, it seems that their efforts weren’t entirely in vain when it comes to making it a better experience, at least for him personally.

However, one must admit that it is a little ironic that he found this song meaningless, especially compared to the superior B-side that he championed above it. Nevertheless, everyone has their preferences, rock legends included.

You can find the classic track right below, where you can listen for those ad-libbed bits that served as Lennon’s saving grace.