Tunesday : Hello Goodbye

Hello Goodbye

(Lennon-McCartney) Performed by The Beatles

You say yes, I say no
You say stop and I say go, go, go
Oh, no
You say goodbye and I say hello

Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello

Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello

I say high, you say low
You say why and I say I don't know
Oh, no
You say goodbye and I say hello

(Hello goodbye, hello goodbye)
Hello, hello
(Hello goodbye)
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello

(Hello goodbye, hello goodbye)
Hello, hello
(Hello goodbye)
I don't know why you say goodbye
(Hello goodbye)
I say hello

Why, why, why, why, why, why
Do you say goodbye?
Goodbye, bye, bye, bye, bye
Oh, no
You say goodbye and I say hello

Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello

Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello

You say yes
(I say yes)
I say no
(But I may mean no)
You say stop
(I can stay)
And I say go, go, go
(Til it's time to go)

Oh, no
You say goodbye and I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello

Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello

Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye I say hello
Hello

Hela, goodbye hello
Hela, goodbye hello
Hela, heba helloa

So here's yet another stupid story about my youth:

Sometimes in the summertime, I'd bike over to the local plaza and use the pay phone to call my friend Cora. Naturally, I could have called her from home for free, but it was worth a quarter to me to get out of the house and sit on my ten speed outside the fish and chip shop, laughing with my best friend for an hour or more at a time. I don't know if this is what gave Cora the inspiration, but at some point before grade nine, she told me that she had shown my picture to a boy she knew in Ireland and he wanted to be my long distance boyfriend -- his best friend wanting to be hers -- and they were planning to communicate by phone. They were named Paul and something like "Cullum" (I never saw the name written out but that's how Cora pronounced it; maybe Callam? Colm?) and it's funny to me that I can't even remember now which one was supposed to be "mine".

Whenever Cora would come out to my house, we'd head over to that same pay phone, and using some trick she had "discovered", Cora would call the boys for free. The trick involved something complicated with the rotary dial, which I wasn't allowed to watch, but it did make the dial tone go away. My "boyfriend" was too shy to talk directly to me, so Cora did all the talking and this was a satisfying enough fantasy that I enjoyed playing along.

We "called" these guys all the time -- Cora eventually "discovered" how to use her trick to call them for free from home, too -- and as we negotiated our first year of high school together, it was actually a relief that there was no pressure to find a boyfriend, because of course, I already had one, and through Cora, he said the nicest things to me. Grade nine homeroom was where we first met our soon-to-be inseparable friend Andrea, too, and every month I'd make a point of saying to her that it was my anniversary, and every month, Andrea would cock an eyebrow at me because she didn't get the game -- but didn't want to call me out on it either.

Cora eventually expanded the game to say that there was a talent scout who wanted to hear us singing. Once again, she'd do something inscrutable with the rotary dial to make a free long distance call, and several times we sang our hearts out -- performing our usual kitchen party songs like House of the Rising Sun and Mull of Kintyre -- and according to Cora, we were always on the cusp of being called into Toronto to make a deal. One time we were singing into the phone at my house because everyone was out, and unbeknownst to us, my mother was desperately trying to get through to us, and although she had the operator trying to break into our phone call, we couldn't hear her and she had to keep telling my mother, "All I hear is two girls singing and they're not responding to me." Mum eventually got through, and the next day, I had to explain why we were singing into the phone for half an hour. By this point, the game was a little stale, and although I knew that none of it was real, I was happy to throw Cora under the bus and explain to my parents about the so-called talent scout and the phone auditions. They didn't like the sound of that at all and Cora let it die. 

But she still made regular calls to our "boyfriends".

By the spring of our grade nine year, not only did we know that I would be moving out to Alberta at the end of the summer, but my parents agreed to allow me to go to Ireland with Cora and her family in August. And that's when that game ended, too: Cora stopped "calling" Ireland when it became obvious that I might expect to meet my boyfriend in person. And this time I didn't throw her under the bus. I let the game die and never put her on the spot about it; but I did get a moment of schadenfreudic glee when her aunt in Ireland casually mentioned the neighbour boy Cullum and Cora turned bright red and did her best to avoid my eye.

As I said before, Cora and I had a strange relationship. I was loud and she was quiet and I don't think anyone looking at us would have realised that she called all the shots; from what music we listened to (only Beatles) to what games we played. I don't know if it was because I had a less developed sense of self or if I was just that starved for female companionship, but even looking back, I don't regret letting Cora take the lead; she certainly had the better imagination; even if so much had a contrarian air to it.

Oh, no
You say goodbye and I say hello
Hello, hello
I don't know why you say goodbye
I say hello