Legend has it that Alistair Taylor, the personal assistant of Beatles manager Brian Epstein (and later general manager of Apple Corps) once approached Paul McCartney with the question of how he writes his music. “Come and sit at the other end of the harmonium,” McCartney told him, and hit a note – any note on the instrument; McCartney will hit that same note. “Now whenever I shout out a word, you shout the opposite and I’ll make up a tune,” McCartney continued. “You watch, it’ll make music.” Indeed it did.

On this day, December 6, in 1967, the Beatles’ “Hello, Goodbye,” their final single in their formative year, reached #1 on the British music charts.

John Lennon, for one, disliked the song, considering his “I am the Walrus,” the B-side on the single, the better of the two. McCartney explained the song was a representation of duality: “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…” And in another interview saying “It’s a song about everything and nothing. If you have black you have to have white. That’s the amazing thing about life.” Alistair Taylor, Epstein’s assistant, for his part always wondered if the song was made up on the spot by McCartney or whether at the time of the demonstration it was already formed in his head.