This song is barely over two minutes long; there should be next to nothing to note about it. But this weird little number is the nexus of so much trivia.
First, the song actually pre-dates the Doors, as it was written and demoed by another incarnation of the Doors musicians sans guitarist Robby Krieger. The name of that earlier group was the slightly less-evocative Rick & the Ravens. Ah, the early '60s.
Second, the song was essentially reissued rarity when the Doors recorded it for their third album and released it as a single. The only reason they did was because Jim Morrison wasn't functioning too well at the moment, so the rest of the band combed back through old material to sell. "Hello, I Love You," a song about a girl Morrison saw on a beach, fit the bill.
Third, this was one of the first songs released as a stereo 45 and served as a showcase for the format. That whammy bar cadenza was the selling point, which would've blown minds when the sound whip panned across the stereo soundscape.
Finally, and this one veers into actual musicality, this song was deemed in court to be a complete rip-off of the Kinks' "All Day and All Of the Night." I am someone who is obsessed with identifying imitated music, but this one never occurred to me. And the reason why has some instructive songwriting insight.
Let's be honest, the similarity barely more than tenuous. The verse chord progression is the same in both but they are played radically different. The Kinks' tune is predicated on pick-up notes lending the progression a very modern, slick vibe. The Doors' tune is intentionally played totally on the beat, with mocking, goofy garishness. The instrumentation is also totally different. The drum parts are radically different. Beyond the verses, the songs have nothing in common.
One thing is the same. The first phrases of the verse singing melodies are nearly identical. A total of 11 notes.
Now ponder this: Do people accuse Nirvana's "Mr. Moustache" of ripping off the ending guitar line of "Hello, I Love You"? Of course not! Who is going to care about ripping off an outtro?
The insight: Your money is made in the first 11 notes of your song. Make sure they are really good. And sue anyone who copies them.
I still celebrate "Hello, I Love" you despite all these hallmarks of illegitimacy. It's a blast of catchy silliness, zaniness sung with Morrison's dead stare.