My Top Ten Goodbye Songs (WYCRA Tribute)

There was an excellent response to my requests for songs called Goodbye as a tribute to the late WYCRA blog. To remind you, the rules were simple... all you had to do was come up with songs called Goodbye.

Oh, by the way, I've abritrarily changed the scoring system...

1 point for every one of my songs you identify.


2 points for being the first to identify a song.

3 points if you can guess a song's position in my Top Ten.

1 bonus point if you suggest a song that's better than one in my Top Ten.

Clear? (As mud.)

Let's start with the elephant in the room, shall we? Goodbye-ee by Peter Cook & Dudley Moore. Being a little bit younger than many of you (sorry), I wasn't familiar with this at all. In fact, when it was suggested - by The Swede, Martin and C - I actually thought the Goodbye-ee in question must be this one. Anyway, I apologise for not having been born when Pete & Dud were on TV. You can all have a point for your advancing years.

Quite a few of you also thought Mary Hopkin might make the grade. I didn't have that in my collection but vaguely remembered it when I gave it a listen. A jaunty enough 60's tune... with the aloft thumbprint of Macca all over it. Can't say I preferred it to any of my Ten though. A bit too jaunty. I will give The Swede a point for suggesting Macca's demo version because - somewhat surprisingly - I found that quite nice.

Next... The Spice Girls? How many of you suggested the bleeding Spice Girls? Really? What is this, Smash Hits? I'm sorry, I know my record collection has some very bizarre corners, but there is no Spice Girls. Even I draw the line somewhere. 

The Swede also wondered if Shed Seven would be there. They came close, but it wasn't one of their most memorable efforts in my humble opinion. (Still better than anything Oasis ever did.) I'll give The Swede an extra point for The Universe though, which I was rather taken with. Couldn't find a properly recorded version of Jon Rae & The River, so I'm on the fence about that. As for Kevin Shields' instrumental Goodbye from Lost In Translation... nice and atmospheric, but instrumentals have to work very hard to get on one of my charts.

C trawled the interweb to come up with Miley Cyrus (now if it was Billy Ray, you might have been in with a chance, C: Billy Ray was a guest voice on Blaze & The Monster Machines the other day... so good to see him still getting work), Avril Lavigne (who's obviously working for Anne Summers now if the video is anything to go by), Alicia Keys and MØ. Obviously you think I'm a 16 year old girl, C, rather than a 45 year old boy. Still, you can have a point for each of those purely because they were all better than The Spice Girls. Alyson can have a point for Avril Lavigne too because I don't want anyone to go away pointless.

Other decent-ish suggestions came thick and fast... but no points for The Pretenders (from the soundtrack of G.I. Jane!) or Northern Uproar (a Northern Uproar b-side: you don't hear those every day). Sadly, I couldn't find Walter's Tracy Chapman offering anywhere on youtube, but I'm sure it's lovely. You can have a point for suggesting something I couldn't find, Walter.

Thanks all for taking part... though you only managed to guess half my Top Ten in the end...


10. The Psychedelic Furs - Goodbye

Nobody suggested this. You must all just be Pretty In Pinkers. Even if you're only familiar with that track and nothing else by the Furs though, this is unmistakably them.

9. Drive-By Truckers - Goodbye

Another one nobody guessed. Maybe I should have awarded myself a point for every one you didn't get.

8. Frank Sinatra - Goodbye (She Quietly Says)

I'm going to give Martin a point for Frank Sinatra, even though he went for this Goodbye, a completely different song, and one that's definitely better recorded. I prefer the lyrics of this one though, with Frank enjoying a coffee and a slice of cheesecake while gets the elbow.

7. Mansun - Goodbye

No fans of Mansun's third and final album out there? Shame.

6. Elton John - Goodbye

Well done to Martin again, who wins 2 points for Elton (I'm sure he'll be so proud). Madman Across The Water is my favourite album by Reg.

A late entry from George gets him a point for this too. 

I will also give Martin a point for having the gall to suggest Def Leppard. I wasn't familiar with that one. It's hardly in the same league as Let's Get Rocked.

And I'll give him two points for Air Supply, because he'll never live that down. 

5. Steve Earle - Goodbye

Well done to Charity Chic for guessing this one. 2 points. An extra point for suggesting Mary Gauthier - I didn't know that one from Mary, but it's rather lovely.

4. The Coral - Goodbye

One of their less-ramshackle offerings; sounds nice.

The Swede gets 2 points for being first to suggest this. Martin can have a point for it too.

3. The Czars - Goodbye 

Before John Grant was John Grant, he was The Czars. Not quite as good as anything he's done as John Grant... but still pretty great.

Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
I love to see you fade and die
I love to see you kicking, screaming
As you try to reach the sky and die

2. The Sundays - Goodbye

2 points to Chris for being the first to suggest this. Three points each to The Swede and Martin who both predicted it would be Number 2. Bloody good going, even though you were wrong about my Number One.

(Harriet Wheeler. Sigh.) 

1. Billy Bragg - Goodbye Goodbye

You may recall that the WYCRA guys would, on occasion, allow the inclusion of a song which repeated their requested word. In their honour - and because it's Billy Bragg - I had to follow their guidance.

Following the same rules, I may have found room for The Swede's suggestion of Gudbuy Gudbuy, but Noddy Holder's spelling always keeps him behind after my class.

Brian can have a point for suggesting Oingo Boingo's Goodbye Goodbye though... because it's Oingo Boingo. Brian had some other great suggestions too, but soon realised he wasn't following the rules so said Goodbye.




Points? Maths never was my strong point, but I think...

Brian - 1 point

Walter - 1 point

Alyson - 1 point
George - 1 point

Chris - 2 points

Charity Chic - 3 points

C - 5 points

The Swede - 8 points

Martin - 11 points

Congratulations to Martin then, who wins my undying admiration. I really enjoyed doing this, and thank you all for taking part. It did bring home to me just how much time such a feature takes to put together though: more credit then to WYCRA and Jez who have both done such things on a regular basis. If I ever did anything like it again... and I am rather tempted, because everyone seems to enjoy playing along at home... I'd have to make it a monthly feature. Weekly would kill me.