Goodbye-ee

DESCRIPTION: "Goodbye-ee, Don't sigh-11! Wipe the tear, baby dear, From your eye-ee. Though it's hard to part I know, (Still) I'll be tickled to death to go. Don't sigh-ee! Don't cry-ee! There's a silver lining in the sky-ee.... Napoo! TOodle-oo! Goodbye-ee!"
AUTHOR: R. P. Weston (1878-1936) and Bert Lee (1880-1946)
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Mullen)
KEYWORDS: home separation
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 185, "Good-bye-ee, don't cry-ee" (1 fragment); p. 189, "Bonsoir, Old Thing" (1 fragment/parody)
Brophy/Partridge-TommiesSongsAndSlang, p. 220, "(no title)" (1 text)
Arthur-WhenThisBloodyWarIsOver, pp. 44-46, "Good-by-ee!" (2 texts, one the Weston & Lee original, one a parody by the troops)
ADDITIONAL: John Mullen, _The Show Must Go On! Popular Song in Britain during the First World War_, French edition 2012; English edition, Ashgate, 2015, p. 161, "(Goodbyee!)" (1 substantial excerpt)
Roud #10939
NOTES [308 words]: Although the traditional versions of this rarely show it, this begins as the story of an officer heading out to war:
Brother Bertie went away
To do his bit the other day
With a smile on his hips
And his Lieutenant's pips
Upon his shoulders bright and gay.
(He waves goodby and sings the chorus)
John Mullen, The Show Must Go On! Popular Song in Britain during the First World War, French edition 2012; English edition, Ashgate, 2015, p. 161, comments, "It is not easy to analyse this song, with the terrible repetition of a deformed 'Goodbye' (pronounced in baby talk, perhaps), the jaunty meolody, jokey references to death and forced rhymes. One has the impression of a pain which cannot be described, where fare is the only option for emotional survival. The signs of his grade (lieutenant's pips) count for little in the context of his pathetic and helpless farewell. He uses upper-class slang and is being mocked, yet the audience is singing along this chorus and revisiting, in comic tone, the many Goodbyes they have had to live through."
"Nah-poo"/"Napoo" is explained as soldier's slang for "all gone, a degradation of French "il n'y en a plus."
Many singers are reported to have sung the song; one version of the sheet music lists Daisy Wood, Florrie Forde, and Charles Whittle.
Of the songs in the Index, authors R. P. Weston and Bert Lee were also responsible for "Anne Boleyn (With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm)," "Rawtenstall Annual Fair," "Send Him a Cheerful Letter," "Lloyd George's Beer," and "The Gypsy Warned Me." They collaborated with "The Two Bobs" to write "Paddy MgGinty's Goat. and Weston also co-wrote "I'm Henery the Eighth I Am," "I've Got Rings On My Fingers," "Where Are the Lads of the Village Tonight?," "Private Michael Cassidy" and "Sister Susie's Sewing Shirts for Soldiers" with Herman Darewski. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: BrPa220A

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography