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"Bye Bye Baby (Baby, Goodbye)"
Single by The Four Seasons
from the album The Four Seasons Entertain You
B-side"Searching Wind (from the album Born To Wander)"
Released1965
GenrePop[1]
Length2:32
LabelPhilips Records
Songwriter(s)Bob Gaudio, Bob Crewe
Producer(s)Bob Crewe
The Four Seasons singles chronology
"Big Man in Town"
(1964) 		"Bye Bye Baby (Baby, Goodbye)"
(1965) 		"Toy Soldier"
(1965)

"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. 1 in Canada[2] and No. 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1965.[3] On the original issue of the single, the title was "Bye Bye Baby". However, on the album, The 4 Seasons Entertain You, and on later issues of the song, the name was changed to the longer, more familiar one. The song is about saying goodbye, not because the person is unloved but rather because the relationship is adulterous ("there's a wedding ring on my finger").[citation needed]

After a winding seven-bar introduction in D major, featuring Frankie Valli's spoken recitation, 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").

Cash Box described it as "a heartfelt rhythmic stomp’er that again features the attention-getting falsetto sound of Frankie Valli and a top teen Calello arrangement."[4]

Chart history

Chart (1965) Peak
position
Canada RPM Top Singles[5] 1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[6] 12
U.S. Cash Box Top 100[7] 10

Other charting versions

A version by British group The Symbols reached No. 44 in the UK Singles Chart in 1967.[8]

A Japanese version by Hiromi Go was released in December 1975 in Japan & Charted at No.9 in the Oricon charts, in the exact same backing sound style & step as the Rollers version, including an eight-bar guitar solo, distributed by CBS/Sony, which appears in his second compilation album Go Hiromi no Subete.

Bay City Rollers version

"Bye Bye Baby"
Single by Bay City Rollers
from the album Once Upon a Star
Released1975
GenrePower pop
Length2:50
LabelBell
Songwriter(s)Bob Crewe, Bob Gaudio
Producer(s)Phil Wainman
Bay City Rollers singles chronology
"All of Me Loves All of You"
(1974) 		"Bye Bye Baby"
(1975) 		"Give a Little Love"
(1975)
Music video
"Bye Bye Baby" (TopPop, 1975) on YouTube

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.[9] It ended the year as the UK's top-selling single.[10] The Four Seasons' version is quite sparse in instrumental backing, instead carried by the vocals, while the Bay City Rollers' is faster and has a fuller backing sound. Played a whole step lower, it includes an eight-bar guitar solo, supposedly by Eric Faulkner but probably a session musician,[11] which is not present in the original.[citation needed]

Chart history

Weekly charts

Chart (1975) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[12] 1
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[13] 13
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[14] 15
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[15] 38
Ireland (IRMA)[16] 1
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[17] 11
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[18] 32
Norway (VG-lista)[19] 7
South Africa[20] 6
United Kingdom[21] 1
U.S. Record World [22] 106
West Germany (Official German Charts)[23] 10

Year-end charts

Chart (1975) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[24][25] 12
UK 1

References

  1. ^ Kutner, Jon; Leigh, Spencer (2010). 1,000 UK Number One Hits. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857123602. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  2. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1965-02-22. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  3. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 238.
  4. ^ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. January 16, 1965. p. 10. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
  5. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1965-02-22. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  6. ^ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  7. ^ Cash Box Top 100 Singles, February 20, 1965
  8. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 544. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  9. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 311–2. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  10. ^ "Britain's best selling records of '75". Record Mirror. London: Billboard. January 10, 1976. p. 12. Archived from the original on September 21, 2016. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  11. ^ "The Bay City Rollers: How we made Shang-A-Lang". TheGuardian.com. 23 September 2014.
  12. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970-1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  13. ^ "Bay City Rollers – Bye Bye Baby" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  14. ^ "Bay City Rollers – Bye Bye Baby" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  15. ^ "Bay City Rollers – Bye Bye Baby" (in French). Ultratop 50.
  16. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Bye Bye Baby". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  17. ^ "Bay City Rollers – Bye Bye Baby" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  18. ^ "Bay City Rollers – Bye Bye Baby". Top 40 Singles.
  19. ^ "Bay City Rollers – Bye Bye Baby". VG-lista.
  20. ^ Currin, Brian. "South African Rock Lists Website - SA Charts 1965 - 1989 Songs (A-B)". Rock.co.za. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  21. ^ "Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. 1975-08-03. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
  22. ^ "Record World, June 28, 1975" (PDF). 1975-06-28. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
  23. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Bay City Rollers – Bye Bye Baby" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts.
  24. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 427. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  25. ^ "National Top 100 Singles for 1975". Kent Music Report. December 29, 1975. Retrieved January 15, 2022 – via Imgur.

External links

The Four Seasons
Bay City Rollers
Best-selling singles by year in the United Kingdom
Authority control databases
Categories