"Goodbye Lucille #1" is a song by

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

pop band

Prefab Sprout Prefab Sprout are an English pop band from Witton Gilbert, County Durham who rose to fame during the 1980s. Formed in 1978 by brothers Paddy and Martin McAloon and joined by vocalist, guitarist and keyboard player Wendy Smith in 1982, they r ...

, released as a single under the title "Johnny Johnny" by

Kitchenware Records Kitchenware Records was an independent record label based in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. It was founded in 1982 by Keith Armstrong, Paul Ludford and Phil Mitchell, and was originally part of The Soul Kitchen, an artist collective and nightclub. ...

in January 1986. It was the final single taken from their album ''

Steve McQueen Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1 ...

''. The single failed to reach the top 40 of the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, reaching a peak of number 64 over three weeks on the chart.

Composition and recording

The song was written in 1979.

Paddy McAloon Patrick Joseph McAloon (born 7 June 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and a founder of the band Prefab Sprout. Early life McAloon was born and grew up in Witton Gilbert in County Durham, England. He was trained to be a Catholic priest bef ...

heard "

Walking on the Moon "Walking on the Moon" is a song by British rock band the Police, released as the second single from their second studio album, ''Reggatta de Blanc'' (1979). The song was written by the band's lead vocalist and bassist Sting. It went on to bec ...

" by

The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Police ...

while ill in bed, and felt inspired by its simplicity. McAloon used "Johnny", considering it "the most clichéd

rock 'n' roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

word ever used", and filled the song's verses with more unusual lyrics such as "You're still in love with

Hayley Mills Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills (born 18 April 1946) is an English actress. The daughter of Sir John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell, and younger sister of actress Juliet Mills, she began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promising ...

". McAloon describes the song's lyrics as "an older hand offering advice to a love torn boy who’s been dumped by his girlfriend". The song originally played live by Prefab Sprout's initial three-piece lineup (Paddy McAloon, Martin McAloon, Michael Salmon) at a faster tempo than the eventual recording. Martin McAloon says the song was conceived as a

waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...

, recalling "we sat round the piano, and we all sang it with our friends". The song's unusual title is a remnant from an idea of McAloon to record an album of 9 tracks all with the same title, each one numbered differently. Martin McAloon remembered in 2007 "Three or four of them were piano versions and were quite beautiful, but we have no record of them, and I’m not sure if Paddy could remember them." At one time "Walk On", the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

to " The Devil Has All the Best Tunes", was "Goodbye Lucille #7", with the chorus of "Walk on, walk on" being replaced with "Goodbye, Lucille: that’s all I feel". The song was left off the band's debut album '' Swoon'' as Paddy McAloon wanted the album to feature his more complex material. When

Thomas Dolby Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher. Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including "She Blinded Me ...

began working with Prefab Sprout, McAloon played him a number of songs without telling him what period they belonged to. McAloon felt that because he had played the songs live so many times, he could no longer be objective about them. "Goodbye Lucille #1" is one of three songs included on ''Steve McQueen'' dating to the band's initial lineup, the others being "Faron Young" and "Bonny". According to Ian Pye of ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'', "Goodbye Lucille #1" features "a beautifully haunting vocal from Wendy Smith".

Release

"Goodbye Lucille #1" was retitled "Johnny Johnny" for release as the final single from "Steve McQueen" in January 1986. A music video was produced for the song. The video initially featured extracts from

John Schlesinger John Richard Schlesinger (; 16 February 1926 – 25 July 2003) was an English film and stage director. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for ''Midnight Cowboy'', and was nominated for the same award for two other films ('' Darling'' an ...

's 1962 film '' A Kind of Loving'' interspersed with shots of the band, but these extracts were removed in later releases. The band performed the song on

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

's ''

The Old Grey Whistle Test ''The Old Grey Whistle Test'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''Whistle Test'' or ''OGWT'') is a British television music show. The show was devised by BBC producer Rowan Ayers, commissioned by David Attenborough and aired on BBC2 from 1971 to 1988. ...

'' on 12 December 1985 and on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's '' The Tube'' on 7 February 1986. The single failed to reach the top 40 of the

, reaching a peak of number 64 over three weeks on the chart. Three new Prefab Sprout songs were released as B-sides to "Johnny Johnny"; "Wigs" "The Guest Who Stayed Forever" and "Old Spoonface Is Back" were written in the studio. Paddy McAloon explained in a 1988 interview "I wanted to do my fans a favour by including bonus tracks. That’s why I went to the studio without songs, I wrote them there, which I usually never do".

Reception and legacy

In 2007, Daryl Easlea of ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide. History The early years The first standalone issue of ''Record Collector'' was published in March 1980, though its history stretches ba ...

'' dubbed "Goodbye Lucille #1" the standout track of ''Steve McQueen''. Reviewing "Steve McQueen" in 2019, Rik Flynn of ''

Classic Pop Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...

'' noted the song's "typically magnificent, yet slightly wonky hook" and called it "another sparkling example of McAloon’s ever-creative handling of pop".

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter and actor. Called the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist and lyricist of ...

once told McAloon he intended to cover the song. The song remained a staple of the band's setlist up to their final live performances in 2000. In 2006, Paddy McAloon rerecorded the song in a solo acoustic arrangement for the expanded 2007 reissue of ''Steve McQueen''.

Track listings

7" vinyl single

Side 1 # "Johnny Johnny (Edit)" Side 2 # "Wigs"

12" vinyl single

Side 1 # "Johnny Johnny (Full Version)" Side 2 # "Wigs" # "The Guest Who Stayed Forever" # "Old Spoonface Is Back"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodbye Lucille #1 1985 singles Prefab Sprout songs Songs written by Paddy McAloon 1985 songs