"Goofus" is a 1930 popular song with music written by

Wayne King Harold Wayne King (February 16, 1901 – July 16, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter, and bandleader with a long association with both NBC and CBS. He was referred to as "the Waltz King" because much of his most popular music involved wa ...

and William Harold and lyrics by

Gus Kahn Gustav Gerson Kahn (November 6, 1886October 8, 1941) was an American lyricist who contributed a number of songs to the Great American Songbook, including "Pretty Baby", "Ain't We Got Fun?", "Carolina in the Morning", "Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo' By ...

Popular cover versions

Les Paul Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid-body electric guitar, and his prototype ...

recorded the song in 1950 and his version was released by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

as catalog number 1192. The record first reached the ''Billboard'' charts on September 29, 1950, peaking at number 21.

Phil Harris Wonga Philip Harris (June 24, 1904 – August 11, 1995) was an American actor, comedian, musician and songwriter. He was an orchestra leader and a pioneer in radio situation comedy, first with ''The Jack Benny Program'', then in ''The Phil Harri ...

released his version on October 13, 1950. It was released by

RCA Victor Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

as catalog number 20–3968. The other side of the release, '' The Thing''. became the hit but the matrix number of Harris' single shows ''Goofus'' as the A-side.

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music s ...

recorded "Goofus" in 1960 for the studio album ''

Chet Atkins' Workshop ''Chet Atkins' Workshop'' is the fourteenth studio album recorded by American guitarist Chet Atkins. Full of pop and jazz stylings and no country, this became his best-selling LP to date, peaking at No. 7 on the Billboard Pop album charts. Hist ...

'', RCA Victor catalog LSP-2232.

The Carpenters version

The Carpenters The Carpenters (officially known as Carpenters) were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen Carpenter, Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (musician), Richard Carpenter (born 1946). They produced a distinct ...

attempted to repopularize the song in 1976, when it was released as a single from their album '' A Kind of Hush''. However, as a sign of the duo's declining popularity at the time, it was the first Carpenters A-side single since " Ticket to Ride" in 1970 to fail to make the top 40 portion of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, or to reach either #1 or #2 on the Easy Listening chart.

Chart performance

References

1930 songs 1950 singles 1976 singles The Carpenters songs Songs with music by Wayne King Songs with lyrics by Gus Kahn {{pop-standard-stub