‘Goodbye’

I really don’t like the word “goodbye.” It’s so final. I’ve said goodbye to so many people and places through my seventy years that the word carries with it echoes of sorrow and regret. 

Parting is linguistically different in a couple of languages that I know a little bit: The German auf wiedersehen literally mean “until we see each other again,” as does the French au revoir. That’s nicer. 

But sometimes parting is final, in blogging as well as in life. After nearly four years of throwing stuff at the wall here, this is my last piece for the Consortium of Seven. And, appropriately, it’s about “goodbye.” 

When I sort the 106,000 mp3s in the RealPlayer for the word “goodbye,” I get back 332 entries. Some of them won’t work for us today: I have to ignore all but the title tracks to Cream’s 1969 album Goodbye and Groove Armada’s 2001 album Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub). And I have to also forget about a few stray tracks from Tim Buckley’s 1967 album Goodbye and Hello and one track from Elton John’s 1973 opus Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. (And I need to figure out why I don’t have both of those albums in their entirety in the collection). 

And there are some duplicates. For instance, I have three copies of the Buffalo Springfield’s “Go and Say Goodbye” because I’ve come across it on a couple of anthologies as well as on the Springfield’s self-titled album from 1967. 

But that leaves us about 300 tracks to work with, which is plenty. So here are six of my favorite “goodbye” records. (For some reason, I was unable to make links work, but all of these can easily be found at YouTube.)

“Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye” by Judy Collins (1967). This Leonard Cohen tune was likely the first track that I ever heard out of the six I’ll mention here. It’s the closing track on Collins’ 1967 album Wildflowers, an album that my sister – three years older than I – brought home about the time the album came out. What has always struck me about the track is the a capella beginning with the instrumentation slowly filtering in. It’s an effective and beautiful closer to an album of thoughtful and sometimes sad songs. 

“Goodbye” by the Benny Goodman Orchestra (1935). Speaking of sad songs, “Goodbye” is one of the most heart-wrenching instrumentals I’ve ever heard. Goodman used the song as his closing piece for radio broadcasts, and I’d imagine that no matter how swinging any crowd in the ballroom might have been during songs like “Sing, Sing, Sing,” once Goodman’s clarinet eased into the dirge-like opening to “Goodbye,” everyone – in the venue and at home in their living rooms – settled down and soaked in the sweetness. The song was written by Gordon Jenkins, says Wikipedia, after Jenkins’ first wife died in childbirth. Chart expert Joel Whitburn says that – collating the sales charts, airplay reports and other data – “Goodbye” went to No. 20 in early 1936. 

“Goodbye Columbus” by the Association (1969). There’s nothing astounding here, just a nice piece of popcraft, as was the case with much of the Association’s catalog. The song, written by group member Jim Yester, was the title track to the 1969 film – starring Ali McGraw and Richard Benjamin – based on a 1959 novella by Philip Roth. The title of the film and the record echo the title of a record played by the brother of McGraw’s character as he recalls his life as an athlete at the Ohio State University, which seems like kind of a loose connection for a title, but there you go. The record didn’t do much, getting only to No. 80 on the Billboard Hot 100. 

“Goodbye to Love” by the Carpenters (1972). I once wrote that the Carpenters “sit on the softest end possible of the pop-rock sofa.” And yeah, the catalog of Richard and Karen Carpenter is generally pretty soft, except that 1:25 into this single, Tommy Tedesco offers a guitar solo that’s a little pushy at the beginning and then, fifteen seconds later, turns into something that makes the first-time listener step back and think, “The Carpenters? Huh?” Add in the stacked harmonies on the “Ahhhhh!” after a brief drumbreak at 2:25, Tedesco’s powerful outro solo from 2:48 onward, and the utter purity of Karen Carpenter’s voice, and you have a great, great record. “Goodbye to Love” went to No. 7 on the Hot 100 and to No. 2 on the chart that is now called Adult Contemporary. 

“Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye” by the Casinos (1967). As the previous entry makes clear, I’m a sucker for a love song with stacked harmonies. The best example of that might be the plaintive multi-part “meeeeee” at the end of the Vogue’s 1968 hit, “Turn Around, Look At Me.” But we find plenty of stacked harmonies in “Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye,” along with an offering of love so sad that I’d think the pairing might be doomed from the start. Or maybe “If it don’t work out, then you can tell me goodbye” is just pragmatism. I dunno. As mournful as it was, the record went to No. 6 on the Hot 100. 

“Say Goodbye To Hollywood” by Ronnie Spector & The E Street Band (1977). This song was written by popcraft master Billy Joel and was the opening track to his 1976 album Turnstiles. According to Wikipedia: 

Joel has stated in his university lectures that he wrote the song with Ronnie Spector and The Ronettes’ song “Be My Baby” in mind. Indeed, Joel notes that the two songs share a very similar beat, recycling the iconic drum intro of “Be My Baby”. The song’s production was also specifically modeled on the “Wall of Sound” production method of [Ronnie Spector’s] ex-husband Phil Spector. 

And sure enough, during the lengthy recording pause necessitated by Bruce Springsteen’s legal wrangle with his former manager, members of Springsteen’s E Street Band got together with Ronnie Spector and recorded “Say Goodbye to Hollywood.” The publication Record World said, according to Wikipedia, “Great and mystical forces have combined to make Ronnie’s return (and her label debut) a smash. Miami Steve [Van Zandt]’s production does her proud.” 

Given my love for the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” and my similar affection for the E Street Band – especially for sax man Clarence Clemons – it’s no wonder that Ronnie Spector’s take on “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” sits atop my listing of “goodbye” songs. And it’s a fine way to take my leave here.

– whiteray