"Good-bye-ee!" is a popular song which was written and composed by R. P. Weston and

Bert Lee William Herbert Lee (11 June 1880 – 23 January 1946) was an English songwriter. He wrote for music hall and the musical stage, often in partnership with R. P. Weston. Life and career Lee was born in Ravensthorpe, Yorkshire, England.Richard ...

. Performed by music hall stars Florrie Forde, Daisy Wood, and Charles Whittle, it was a hit in 1917. Weston and Lee got the idea for the song when they saw a group of factory girls calling out goodbye to soldiers marching to Victoria station. They were saying the word in the exaggerated way which had been popularised as a

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by comedian Harry Tate. They then travelled to Brighton and wrote the song on a wet afternoon in their cabin under the

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. The song lent its name to " Goodbyeee", the final episode of the sitcom ''

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''.

Chorus

Good-bye-ee! good-bye-ee! Wipe the tear, baby dear, from your eye-ee. Tho' it's hard to part I know, I'll be tickled to death to go. Don't cry-ee! don't sigh-ee! There's a silver lining in the sky-ee. Bonsoir old thing, cheerio! chin chin! Nah-poo! Toodle-oo! Good-bye-ee! The salutations at the end of the chorus are from various languages. ''Bonsoir'' is French for goodnight. ''Chin chin'' is a Chinese toast. "Nahpoo" and "toodle-oo" are corruptions of the French ''il n'y en a plus'' (there is no more) and ''à tout à l'heure'' (see you later).

References

{{authority control 1917 songs British patriotic songs Songs of World War I Florrie Forde songs Songs written by R. P. Weston Songs written by Bert Lee Songs about soldiers Songs about the military Songs about parting