From the recording Passion Play
Say Goodbye NY is a lilting mid-tempo half-love song, half-political statement offering a romantic, dreamy soundstage reminiscent of Roxy Music's wonderful ‘Avalon’ album.
Written in 1982 about my disenchantment with the Record Biz, the feeling of melancholy and resignation I felt at the time gradually gave way to a sense that I’d soon be better off anyway. The more I saw aspiring stars achieving some modicum of fame, the more I saw their ability to control their own lives and their art being taken from them. Living life (mostly) tuning out the forgettable pablum major artists had started releasing and the corporate bullshit mindset that fostered it began to offer a new clarity in my thinking and writing. Besides, as years wore on, the Record Biz started disappearing altogether. It has since morphed into an actual ‘industry’.
This post-9/11 rewrite has given this song of letting go of the Old and embracing the New a larger and deeper dimension. Forever the optimist, I'm still convinced that, indeed, somewhere is Love.
Lyrics
Say Goodbye NY
I used to knock around with a carload of crazy friends
we had some laughs and went our separate ways
eventually they all wound up in La-La Land
beholding the glories of the Royal Scam
with so little future in their own hands
say goodbye NY and LA, found my own way to go
say goodbye NY and LA, with a lady I know
we’ll slip away to the shores of Tropez
I don’t care what they say
somewhere is love
every day plays the gay-blade parade of silly stars
shouting out ‘no you’re not quite good enough’
boy, do we ever hear them
even I in my search for a high have believed in dreams
that torched like the towers of South Broadway
when will Romeo find just one place to stay?
say goodbye NY and LA, got my own way to go
say goodbye NY and LA, and with a lady I know
we’ll sail away to God’s little Tropez
I don’t care what they say
somewhere is love
so say goodbye from New York to LA, found our own place to be
goodbye, goodbye USA, oh say can you see
the sunny shores of our sacred Tropez
I won’t hear what they say
somewhere is love
say goodbye…
found our own place to be
goodbye, goodbye USA, oh say can you see
the sunny shores of our sacred Tropez
I won’t hear what they say
somewhere is love
somewhere is love
Music & Lyrics by George Wallace
© 2005 Celestial Songs (ASCAP)