Profound ‘goodbye songs’ highlight 1970s music scene

Moving into the 1970s, “goodbye songs” by rock’n’roll and country artists began to take new twists and turns to explore the depths of human emotions in dealing with life’s journey.

Welcome singer-songwriter Don McLean to the stage. In 1971, he wrote and recorded “American Pie,” an epic anthem spanning 8 minutes and 36 seconds that revealed a “complicated parable” about the state of society at that time.

 

Journalist Tim Nudd (shown below), writing for PEOPLE magazine in 2016, termed “American Pie” as “one of the great, cryptic masterpieces in the history of American music.”

 

McLean once said: “Basically, in ‘American Pie,’ things are heading in the wrong direction…less ideal, less idyllic. I don’t know whether you consider that wrong or right, but it is a morality song in a sense.”

McLean said that “he felt an inexorable decline in American culture at the time he wrote the song,” Nudd wrote.

 

“The song was inspired, first and foremost,” Nudd said, “by the deaths of musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P ‘The Big Bopper’ Richardson in a plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959 (near Clear Lake, Iowa), the “day the music died.”

McLean was a 13-year-old paperboy in his hometown of New Rochelle, N.Y., when the tragedy occurred, and he mourned the deaths of these early rock stars greatly, Nudd said.

 

“But the rest of the song is a maelstrom of social, cultural and political allusions,” Nudd wrote.

Now, at age 80, McLean continues to remain “quite cagey” when queried about the underlying meanings of his lyrics, causing the song to “remain a subject of continued intense fascination.”

 

What model year Chevy did Don McLean “drive to the levee?” The most popular choice would be a 1957 Bel Air. 

One of the most commercially successful “goodbye songs” in the 1970s belongs to Dolly Parton, who was born in the Locust Ridge area of Sevierville, Tenn.

She wrote and recorded “I Will Always Love You” as a farewell tribute to her business partner and mentor Porter Wagoner.

 

The Dolly Parton website shares the story: “Throughout Dolly’s seven-year stint on ‘The Porter Wagoner Show’ (from 1967-74), she and Porter reigned supreme as one of country music’s most popular duos. However, the little blonde with the powerhouse voice had set her sights on a solo career. As she set forth on her path to make her dreams come true, it would mean leaving the show – and her duet partner.”

“In 1974, Dolly wrote ‘I Will Always Love You’ as her own unique way of saying goodbye to Porter as their professional relationship came to an end. When Dolly first played the song for Porter, he began crying” and said it was “the prettiest song I ever heard.”

 

Wagoner produced the album for Dolly, and the song consequently went to No. 1 on the country charts.

Whitney Houston recorded a pop-ballad arrangement of the song for the 1992 film “The Bodyguard.” (It was her feature film acting debut, starring alongside Kevin Costner.)

 

Houston’s version of “I Will Always Love You” sold more than 25 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling single of all time by a female solo artist, according to Guinness World Records.

 

This Whitney Houston poster is a collector’s item, because of the error in the printing of the song title.

Also deserving mention as top “goodbye songs” during the decade are: “If you Leave Me Now” (1976) by Chicago, written Peter Cetera, the group’s bass player (shown agove), and “I Will Survive” (1978) by Gloria Gaynor, written by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris (shown below).

 

Most folks can sing along with the tune written in 1977 by David Allan Crowe and performed by Johnny Paycheck:

 

Take this job and shove it,

I ain’t workin’ here no more.

A woman done left and took all the reasons

I was working for.

Here are more ‘goodbye songs’ to take for a spin

Surely, there are thousands of contemporary “goodbye songs” that invoke emotions of sadness and grief, running the full spectrum from teenage romance breakups to the tragic loss of a loved one.

One all-time favorite “goodbye song” that topped the hit parade more than 100 years ago was “Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo’ Bye!)” from 1922. 

The tune, first recorded by Al Jolson with Frank Crumit & His Orchestra, debuted in the Broadway musical “Bombo.” Tootsie’s songwriters included Gus Kahn, Ernie Erdman, Danny Russo, Ted Fio Rito and Robert A. King.

“See You Later, Alligator” came along in 1955, written by singer-songwriter Bobby Charles (shown above) and first recorded by Roy Hall (“Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”) (shown below).

 

However, the version of the song performed by Bill Haley & His Comets (“Rock Around the Clock”) was a chartbuster in 1956.

 

At some point, an adaptation of “See You Later, Alligator” became a standard rhyming song for American preschoolers.

 

It goes like this:

See you later alligator, after a while crocodile.

Blow a kiss jellyfish, give a hug ladybug.

See you soon, big baboon,

Out the door, dinosaur,

Take care, polar bear,

Wave goodbye, butterfly.

(A copyright on the sheet music was issued in 2020 to Megan Desmarais of teachpreschoolmusic.com in Tulsa, Okla.)

Interestingly, singer-songwriter Paul Simon said he was teaching his own son, Harper, how to make rhymes, in 1975, when the lyrics for “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” popped into his head.

Here’s a bit of it:

There must be 50 ways to leave your lover:

You just slip out the back, Jack

Make a new plan, Stan

You don’t need to be coy, Roy

Hop on the bus, Gus

You don’t need to discuss much

Just drop off the key, Lee

And get yourself free.

The 1960s may have been rock’n’roll music’s “golden era” for “goodbye songs,” starting off with “Hit the Road Jack” in 1960, written and recorded by rhythm and blues singer Percy Mayfield.

The song rocketed up the charts, though, in 1961, when it was covered by Ray Charles and Margie Hendrix, who was a member of the Raelettes, an all-girl vocal group.

 

A few other top “goodbye” songs from the 1960s that bring back memories are:

“I Fall to Pieces” (1961) by Patsy Cline, written by Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard.

 

“Sealed with a Kiss” (1962) by Brian Hyland, written by Peter Udell and Gary Geld. (The original recording was released by the Four Voices in 1960.)

 

“The End of the World” (1962) by Skeeter Davis , written by Arthur Kent and Sylvia Dee.

 

“It’s My Party” (1963) by Lesley Gore, written by Herb Weiner, John Gluck Jr., Wally Gold and Seymour Gottlieb.

 

“Hello Heartache, Goodbye Love” (1963) by Little Peggy March, written by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore and George David Weiss.

 

“Dead Man’s Curve” (1964) by Jan & Dean, written by Brian Wilson, Jan Berry, Roger Christian and Artie Kornfeld.

 

“The Tracks of My Tears” (1965) by the Miracles, written by group members Smokey Robinson, Pete Moore and Marv Tarplin. (Rolling Stone magazine ranked the Miracles’ original recording as “The Greatest Motown Song of All Time.”)

 

“See You in September” (1966) by The Happenings, written by Sid Wayne and Sherman Edwards. (It was first recorded by The Tempos in 1959.)

 

“(I Know) I’m Losing You” (1966) by The Temptations, written by Cornelius Grant, Eddie Holland and Norman Whitfield.

 

(Other notable versions of the song were performed by Rare Earth in 1970 and Rod Stewart in 1971.)

Let the countdown continue….

Origin of ‘goodbye’ comes from jolly/jovial old England

“Goodbye” – or a shortened version thereof – is a word we use daily to end a telephone conversation or to say “farewell, so long.”

Interestingly, the word “goodbye” is a contraction of sorts for a phrase that originated in England, “God be with ye.”

 

It was first written in correspondence by essayist, poet and scholar Gabriel Harvey in 1573.

 Harvey was born in 1545, in Saffron Walden, Essex, England, the eldest son of a master ropemaker. He was educated at Christ’s College, part of the University of Cambridge (shown below), and attained a law degree from the University of Oxford.

 

A talented wordsmith, Harvey has been credited with the coining or first use of several words that have settled into the English vocabulary, including “jovial,” “conscious,” “extensively,” “idiom,” “notoriety” and “rascality.”

The popular hymn “God Be with You till We Meet Again,” was written by Dr. Jeremiah Eames Rankin, who was born in 1828 in Thornton, N.H.

 

He graduated from Middlebury (Vt.) College and completed religious studies at Andover (Mass.) Theological Seminary in 1854. He was awarded a doctorate degree from Middlebury 1869 and became pastor of First Congregational Church in Washington, D.C.

Rankin was in his early 50s when he wrote the lyrics in 1880 to a hymn with the full knowledge of the etymology of “goodbye,” modernizing “God be with ye” to “God be with you.”

Dr. Rankin sent the lyrics to two musicians with an invitation to compose the music. Dr. Rankin selected the melody submitted by William Gould Tomer, a native of Warren County, N.J., who was serving as the music director of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., at the time.

 

“God Be with You…” became widely used in the evangelical campaigns conducted throughout North America and Europe by Dwight L. Moody (left) and his music director Ira D. Sankey.

Within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “God Be with You…” is the standard closing number during performances of the (Mormon) Tabernacle Choir and acts as a benediction to many of the General Conferences of the Church.

 

There are a ton of secular “goodbye songs” to keep us occupied for a spell.

“So Long, Farewell” is a catchy tune from “The Sound of Music” (1959), composed by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. 

It was performed by the von Trapp children during a formal party at the von Trapp household, serving as a polite, yet playful way to excuse themselves for bedtime. Each...from youngest to the oldest...sang a brief solo and then climbed the stairs.

 

“Happy Trails,” a country tune that became the theme song for both the radio and television versions of “The Roy Rogers Show,” starring Roy Rogers, the singing cowboy, and his wife, Dale Evans.

 

“Happy Trails” was originally written in 1951 by Foy Willing for the movie, “Spoilers of the Plains,” starring Roy Rogers with Foy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage. 

Subsequently, the first three notes of Willing’s song and the title were used by Dale Evans in her version of “Happy Trails,” released in 1962.

In the pop-folk music genre, perhaps the premier “goodbye song” is “Leaving on a Jet Plane” (1966), written and performed by John Denver. Its original title was “Babe I Hate to Go.”

 

He made several copies and gave them out as Christmas presents that year. Denver’s then-producer Milt Okun convinced him to change the title, renaming the record as “Leaving on a Jet Plane” in 1967.

In 1969, the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary covered the song, and the trio’s version hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, their most successful single.

 

We’ll load up the jukebox for another round.

Protecting the environment should be port priority

(Part 8…and Last...in a Series)

More than 40 years ago, the Carteret County Land Use Plan was updated to address port development on Radio Island.

 

Reviewing that document from 1985 might be a helpful starting point for further discussion about the future of Radio Island and the North Carolina State Ports Authority.

It was noted: “A proposal in late 1981, for development of a coal storage and loading facility on Radio Island sparked opposition from interested parties” in Carteret County.

“The lack of adequate rail access and the potential environmental problems associated with coal…led to the preparation of an Area Development Plan (ADP) for Radio Island.” It was approved by a task force appointed by North Carolina Gov. James G. Martin. Participants represented local governments and appropriate departments of state government.

 

“As part of its study of the Radio Island issue, the task force also oversaw a study of rail transportation problems associated with the movement of large quantities of bulk goods through the SPA (State Ports Authority).”

 

 

“A study of the problem by the N.C. Department of Transportation concluded that the movement of in excess of 3 million tons of coal per year through Morehead City would cause serious delays and interruptions to the community that simply were not acceptable.”

The county planning commission responded by recommending that any port development on Radio Island require a “special use permit.” The SPA would, therefore, guarantee that any proposed industrial use “will not materially endanger the public health, public safety, adjacent water and air resources or environment.”

Further, the proposed use “will not substantially injure the value of adjoining or abutting property” and “will be in harmony with the area in which it is to be located.”

Additional language in the document reinforced the vital importance of prohibiting any project that could potentially “have an adverse environmental impact on water and air resources.”

 Lessons learned? 

An editorial from the Oct. 4, 2023, edition of the Carteret County News-Times reminds readers that in recent memory there have been at least three occasions when “the Ports Authority has attempted to foist expansion opportunities that were explosive, noxious and controversial, including an anhydrous ammonia facility, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage operation (2000-01) and most recently, a sulfur smelting operation (2011).”

“In each of these cases the port faced aggressive reaction from the county.” Some folks were downright “Sufur-ious” and had lime-green T-shirts printed up.

 

“In the case of the smelter facility, which was to be located right next door to the Morehead City Yacht Basin, the public outcry was so significant that Gov. Beverly Perdue conducted a press conference in one of the port warehouses to apologize for what was a surreptitious effort to build the smelter,” the editorial continued.

 

“The ports authority had intentionally avoided any public notice about the smelter facility and was only stopped once a final notice was mailed to the only contiguous property owner, which happened to be the yacht basin.”

Looking forward: Without question, the Morehead City port is a valuable asset in the state’s economic development toolbox. 

For years, Don Kirkman, the county’s former economic developer (now retired), tried his best to broker a workable deal for the best use of the port’s underutilized property on Radio Island.

 

Kirkman frequently remarked that Morehead City is the most favorable port on the East Coast when it comes to “accessibility and convenience, located only four miles from open ocean with an authorized depth of 45 feet.”

Maybe the hangup is the “industrial use” requirement tag that the Ports Authority has been clinging to all these years.

 

Port-community relations: a bit of a checkered past

Some 25 years ago, scientists at the North Carolina Coastal Federation called attention to a troubling situation regarding utilization of the Morehead City port.

A major article within the Coastal Federation’s 2001 “State of the Coast” report carried the subhead: “Surprise announcements and poor siting of industries result in heartburn for citizens and headaches for economic developers. Can citizens really be blamed for challenging projects that are designed to fail?”

 

In 2001, the Coastal Federation, under the leadership of Executive Director Todd Miller, addressed the North Carolina State Ports Authority’s propensity for sneaky behavior…and Carteret County’s need to keep a watchful eye.

 

The article said: “Local citizens have been wary of hazardous substances ever since the USNS Potomac exploded on Sept. 26, 1961.” 

The 640-foot tanker, carrying 101,000 gallons of aviation gasoline and JP-5 jet fuel, caught fire while discharging its load to storage tanks on Radio Island. A news account said: “Black smoke and flames boiled more than 1,000 feet into the air.”

 

The Coastal Federation advanced the calendar to the spring of 1978 when “Gov. Jim Hunt flew to the coast to make a surprise announcement that a Texas firm planned to build the second largest liquid propane gas (LPG) facility in the nation on Radio Island.” The news was received with community outrage.

 

“There had been no public discussion of the question before Hunt’s announcement here. At least one local mayor had no idea why Hunt was in town before he joined the governor on the podium.”

John Costlow, who was director of the Duke Marine Laboratory at the time, uncovered research data contained within a 1978 U.S. General Accounting Office report: 

“Liquefied energy gas storage tanks, ships, trucks and railroad cars were dangerously vulnerable to catastrophic fires and explosions that could result from accident or sabotage. Large storage facilities for LPG and liquefied natural gas (LNG) should be built away from populated areas.”

 

The Coastal Federation article commented: “That fall, Costlow hosted a public forum that drew more than 300 concerned citizens to the Duke Marine Lab auditorium to discuss the hazards of LPG. Shortly thereafter, Gov. Hunt withdrew his support for the project, and it was never built.”

 

The Coastal Federation said: “Citizens are generally left out of economic development decisions. While state law provides citizens with access to public records…the law draws the line at industrial development projects that are considered to be confidential. Until the surprise announcement is made that a new industry is coming to town, citizens are kept in the dark.”

“When kept out of a process that affects their community, citizens often become agitated. Environmental issues and community concerns are often glossed over in the site selection process.”

The Coastal Federation sent forth this message in 2001: 

“Attracting industry to an ecologically sensitive region like eastern North Carolina requires extra care. The environmental suitability of an industrial site must be evaluated in advance, not after the surprise announcement has been made.”

“And citizens need to be involved every step of the way when major industrial projects are being planned for their hometowns. It would make the process go smoother for citizens and economic developers alike.”

Is anyone at the Ports Authority listening? They should be.