Released 1965 Genre Rock Label Philips Records | Format 7" Length 2:32 | |
B-side Searching Wind (from the album Born To Wander) | ||
"Bye, Bye, Baby (Baby Goodbye)" is a popular song written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio, a member of The Four Seasons whose version of the song made it to No. 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1965. On the original issue of the single, the title was "Bye Bye Baby"; on The 4 Seasons Entertain You album (and later issues of the song), the name was changed to the longer, more familiar name. The song is about saying goodbye, not because the person is unloved, but rather the relationship is adulterous ("there's a wedding ring on my finger").
Contents
After a winding seven-bar introduction in B minor, the song settles into a triplet-swing beat and thereafter alternates between two keys, F-sharp major (in the chorus) and A major (in the verse and final chorus), bridging the gap with a five-step chromatic pivot-modulation (D-D♯-E-F-F♯ over the line "She's got me and I'm not free").
The Symbols version
A cover version by British group The Symbols reached No. 44 in the UK Singles Chart in 1967.
Bay City Rollers version
A cover of the song by the Bay City Rollers sold a million copies and hit No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart for six weeks from March 1975. It ended the year as the UK's top selling single. The Four Seasons' version is quite sparse in instrumental backing, instead carried by the vocals, while the Bay City Rollers' version is faster and has a fuller backing sound. Played a full tone lower, it includes an eight-bar guitar solo by Eric Faulkner, which is not present in the original.
In popular culture
In the film Love Actually, the song is played by Daniel (Liam Neeson) at his wife's funeral, and by the DJ (Junior Simpson) at Juliet (Keira Knightley) and Peter's (Chiwetel Ejiofor) wedding reception.
The anime Magical Hat uses a Japanese language variation of the song as ending theme.
The Bay City Rollers’ version was used in the soundtrack of the 2002 Channel 4 adaptation of White Teeth by Zadie Smith; however, it did not appear on the soundtrack CD released that same year.