30-day Musical Challenge: Day 30

The World-Famous Official ‘Spill 30-Day Musical Challenge

(Rules)

Day 30 topic: a goodbye song

Please include song name & artist in your post for Chris

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162 thoughts on “30-day Musical Challenge: Day 30

    • After the “song you know all the words to”, I was anticipating “song you only know a bit of” and mine would’ve been The Final Countdown ! “It’s the final countdown” followed by the guitar tune is lodged in my brain, the rest is a blank. Maybe there isn’t any more to it ?

      • Young Munday loves that song because it’s in a Transformers movie. He plays it – a lot – at high volume and there is definitely more to it, but I’m too busy stuffing my fingers in my ears to ever work out what it’s all about!

    • on a Ninja Tune tip -I was going to go with:

      The Heavy – What’s So Good About Goodbye?

      but no link – so didn’t.

      don’t think I got any hip-hop in the 30 days.. a lot of the themes didn’t really scream out for them, or weren’t instantly obvious. Good choice.

      • Cheers.. the way is open for the genre 30 day musical challenge, just like trivial pursuits..
        the hip hop friendly series would have questions like.. (what rap do you double team on when you meet your homey on the street, what do you play real loud with the windows down when you drive back into your ‘hood)

        The jazz 30 day challenge- what’s your chin strokingest track, name a solo you can dweeby dooby dooby dop to off by heart, a piece of music which most makes you want go and change into a polo neck sweater, etc.

      • a blues tune for when you arrive at the crossroads.
        a blues tune for when you woke up this morning.
        a blues tune for when when your old lady left you.

      • A folk song where you
        - went out one May morning
        - threw your girlfriend in the river
        - came back from the war after 7 years with your broken token

      • a goth song where you’re in a graveyard
        a goth song featuring a pale, mysterious woman
        a goth song lamenting a lost love
        a goth song using water as a metaphor
        a goth song using the creations of HP Lovecraft or Bram Stoker
        :-)

      • A funk song that makes you wanna go Hnnng

        A funk song that makes you wanna go Ooowwww

        A funk song that makes you wanna go Huuaargh

        A funk song that makes you wanna go Haaaave Mercy

        A funk song that makes you wanna go Ooh Daddy

        A funk song that makes you wanna go Right On

      • Or beyond genre -

        A Dexy’s Midnight Runners song you stapboolyarapbambidooo

        A Wild Swans song you magic velvet angel whisper cosmic girl blancmange

      • Jazz- a single you wouldn’t let touch your turntable, because you just had Mulligan on there, man.
        (apols to Stan Freberg)

        R&B/Soul- A song which makes you do the funky frown ® (Ejaydee)

        Marxist Punk- a song which makes you want to destroy your lousy capitalist loudspeakers.

        Anarcho Punk- a song you couldn’t give two fucks about.

  1. I’ve been singing this song all day because of something Fintan said on RR.

    It’ll all work out eventually
    Maybe better with him than here with me

    Now the wind is high and the rain is heavy
    And the water’s rising in the levee
    Still I think of her when the sun goes down
    It never goes away, but it all works out

    You wouldn’t think a song called It’ll All Work Out would be a sad song, would you? But it’s dreadfully sad.

    It’ll All Work Out by Tom Petty, here accompanied by Benmont Tench on piano at the first of Neil Young’s Bridge School Benefit concerts in 1986.

    Thanks, Tinny.

  2. Well, what a day. This is ending, the Makis’ tenure on Earworms, and we’ve had the news that this is the last day for our Yank blog on CiF America too, our leader there is moving to a different pasture. So i’ll post the same song here that i did over there, a long indulgent bit of wank, that still works somehow.

    The Doors – The End

    • Unfortunately, amy, ‘all the screaming and cod psychology’ made glassarfemptee pick this for 25: A Song You Hate From A Band You Love.

      As I said then, it’s use in Apocalypse Now redeems it for me.

      • Bummer, it was so perfect. Going to have to be this one i guess.

        (Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, baby goodbye!)

        Smiths – Girlfriend in a Coma

      • oh, you could have had When the Music’s Over by the Doors instead, Girlfriend in a Coma is cool though, funnily enough I hated it when I first heard it, but I think that was a case of old fan new album syndrome, took a long time to realise that Strangeways Here We Come is actually very good.

  3. Cock Sparrer – Goodbye
    Cock Sparrer’s final song on their final album, obviously a moving moment for yours truly
    “There’s nothing left to say
    We’re getting in the way”

    Except of course they came back.. and then back again…seeing them in a few months in fact…

  4. As you hum your songs, the water turn to ice above our home.
    So we go collect our paychecks and leave.

    Up comes the sun to burn everyone.
    And we pay the difference by peeling off our skin.
    And as far as we can tell, it’s pretty cold in hell.
    But you’ve got your sweaters,
    So I’m sure you won’t mind.

    But you’ve lost your heart. And you’ve lost all your will.
    You’re shot full of holes, and what you hold always spills.

    It was all in our heads. It was all in our heads.
    The sky was never falling; it was all in our heads.
    So sleep well tonight. And dream some good things.
    The sky was never falling. It was all a bad dream.

    Electric President – Farewell

    …because the only thing to be frightened of is the sky falling on our heads.

    • I like the Asterix connection ! Benjamin is just getting into Roald Dahl, which is a pleasure to read as well. This is good, lots of atmosphere, if that’s not too Russ Abbottesque a thing to say…

      • Well noted Daddypig – we have a box set of Dahl too – the pleasure of reading is immense at the moment with my son. I faked reading till I was at least 16 so all these books are new to me.. we are discovering the brilliance together.

      • I read well ahead of my age, but understanding of people and relationships probably a bit behind – with the result that I found it quite difficult to find the right books to read from about age 11. Asterix was one of the few things I really enjoyed then, but I didn’t know much about Roald Dahl until my nephews arrived, and some of him is still new to me with my children. As you say, discovering it together is brilliant.

      • ‘understanding of people and relationships’

        I thought that was one of those too complex subjects that you didn’t bother with otherwise your brain would implode…alongside electricity, arctic rolls and math-rock!

      • DsSis (at 9y.o.) is currently ploughing her way through a Roald Dahl box set. “Ploughing through” is slow for her, she normally averages around a hundred pages a night. But don’t take that the wrong way: she keeps telling me I should re-read Charlie & the Great Glass Elevator, which I only read once 30-odd years ago and can’t recall at all, but which she found much more entertaining than Charlie & The Chocolate Factory.

      • My son was about 7 when the Guardian published some of Dahl’s anti-Semitic rantings. That and the misogyny of “The Witches” made me very cautious about his work.

  5. Ever seen Jimi Hendrix play a 12-string acoustic guitar? Well here he is, playing Hear My Train A-Coming.
    Starts properly at 1:04.

    • nice one DP -

      tried to find a link to:
      What’s So Good About Goodbye? - The Heavy
      for you to have a listen.. but can’t find one anywhere.
      (internet is throttled in our country road at the moment so would probably take about two days for me to up-load it – another time perhaps)

      (sorry to see that Nasty Notts Forest not giving you much of a chance for the last play off place – at least you have these Miracles – we could end up against them soon if the last two games edge away from us)

      • I just put it in the box in my Perpetuum Mobile folder.
        (The Heavy- What’s so good about Goodbye?)

      • Thanks both for the Heavy take on that sentiment.

        I suspect a lot of Leeds fans will have been gnashing teeth and wailing about slipping out of the play-offs, but then feeling quite relieved about it. They’ve brought us nothing but grief over the years, and are far better suited to teams that start slowly and gather momentum after Christmas; rather than our traditional sprint start and disastrous spring.

        I’d be very happy for Norwich to go up ‘automatically’ (although it looks like damned hard work for something ‘automatic’). If you don’t, I’ll console myself that we’ll do better next season for not having to play Cardiff !

      • I’m in two minds as to what I want – my natural pessimism believes Bellemy will get Cardiff that 2nd spot – I also don’t mind too much.. because spending all next year losing wont be so much fun – I like the Championship, anything can happen…(and I can just about afford to take my dad and son to a couple of matches a season)

        BUT – I’m already excited for 7.45pm today.. ‘automatic’ IS such a misnomer.

      • Ta very much – the football supporting part of Norfolk has a fat head – we’ll go spluttergutting into that there Premiership and see what happens…Saturday has become far more relaxed now.

  6. Incidentally, was anyone left without a song yesterday ? Chris, your efforts to make sure everything was done properly were brilliant – but I’m not sure if Amylee got a song in the end ?

    And a huge thank you to Tin as well for the series.

  7. Well here’s a song to walk you out the door. It’s been a great time in this here hideaway. The birds are waking themselves so the day can’t be far off. Just one more sip of my glass & a toast to all. Interesting that the only link I could find was a send off for J.D. Salinger. Cheers!

    Goodbye – Benny Goodman

  8. OK, I’ve decided to go with I Will Survive – but I think DsD chose it for the song he couldn’t stand, so I hope he’ll forgive me for digging it up again (and I’m assuming he was going for Gloria Gaynor, so I’ve picked a different version, having noticed that Chris is prepared to tolerate cover versions of ‘taken’ songs).
    Anyway, I thought the sentiment appropriate for today, so I toodled over to youtube, undecided as to whether to go with the Puppini Sisters or with the Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain – and I came across a clip wot warmed the cockles of my heart…
    It’s an impromptu rendering of the song with a group of girls who’d gone backstage after a Puppini Sisters’ concert; I just thought it was a really nice gesture, and I wanted to end this on a happy, feelgood note.

    The Puppini Sisters (& fans) – I Will Survive

    Thank you Tinny, thank you Chris, see you next week!

    • In the meantime other people have had duplicates pointed out to them, which has left me feeling a bit of a cheat. So if it’s OK with you, Chris, I’ll scrap the above and go with
      Nina Hagen – Ich weiß, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen.
      I don’t like the Zarah Leander original, but that has much to do with political sensititivity on my part (it’s from a German film made in 1942), but how can anyone not love Crazy Nina?

    • Woo-hoo! I was about to say that I enjoyed this because I don’t have the Goodbye album, but a quick look-up has sent me straight to it! BONUS!

  9. Well it wasn’t his swan song – the David Bowie duet filled that roll – but this was Bing’s “My way”. And a far better song in my opinion.

    Mind you I think Bing could do no wrong.

  10. I hate goodbyes.

    And now, having said that, I know that most of the people that I have met in my lifetime are in the past.

    Sadly, many goodbyes are permanent.

    I love this song. It is true when they sing………..“Preserve your photographs, the’re all thats left you”

    Simon and Garfunkle…………”Bookends Theme”

  11. And as this is the last day of the challenge, I have to add my thanks to Tincanman for setting the whole thing up, Chris for his brilliant work in monitoring the whole thing and, of course, to everyone else who took part.
    30 days of music posting has brought out some fantastic listening, new finds and old friends.
    Yes it will be missed. What are we going to do now ????????

    Er, Chris any chance of a compilation ?
    Just asking, like.

    • How’s this? If you can guess correctly the total number of songs picked over the 30 days, bp, I’ll spend May gathering them all together in a presentation box-set for you. I’ll even allow you a margin of error of, say, 20 songs.

      • No, debby, I was lying. This exercise has used up my reserves of discipline, enthusiasm and altruism…
        And that’s a pretty good guess.

      • A Spill pint sounds a little tricky, debby, but I’m sure there’s a Spill point or two with your name on them somewhere. Even allowing for a last-minute rush of picks, you’re within 20 of the right answer.

  12. I tried to catch up earlier today but it was beyond me. And didn’t feel right, anyway. This has been a great set of posts that I haven’t been able to take part in. I’ve only been able to skim read most days but it’s been truly heartening to see so many people on here that the ‘Spill seemed in danger of losing. For that alone, Tin deserves all our unreserved thanks. I’ve no doubt Chris’ work will throw up some interesting stats and look forward to seeing his final post.

    I really wish I had had the time to get involved and feel I’ve missed out on one of the most important bonding sessions this blog has ever known. Life does that sometimes. Anyway, here’s the song I would have chosen for today’s topic.

    The Stranglers (who else) – Never Say Goodbye

  13. Guillemots – Redwings

    Just beautiful.

    I’ve said before, either here or on RR, that if, when I’m about to die, I know it’s coming, this is the song I’d like to play to my wife and daughters.

    If, in that context, this song doesn’t bring a tear to your eye, then you’re all heartless bastards!!!!

    Goodbye.

    • Sorry … couldn’t resist that pseudo-flounce!

      I was, of course, only joking, and actually mean only Goodnight.

      Knackered: off to bed. Will catch up with this tomorrow.

      • Lovely track DsD –
        .
        .
        (I’d be an emotional wreak if this was played at your demise, couldn’t imagine what it would do to the females in your life, hopefully you are immortal so we’ll never find out!)

        P.S. – nice flounce.

      • P.P.S – just realised I got the Guillemots album this is from at a Library sale for a pound – never got around to listening.. will search it out later, because of this post… cheers.

  14. 50 ways to leave your lover but even more to say goodbye to the Spill 30Qs. Thanks to tin for the artistry and Chris for the industry and you lot for the company.

    Toots & The Maytals – Just Like That

    • I’m afraid I picked this one as a song from my childhood, Ed. You may have to pick another (if at this late stage we’re worrying about the rules!). Great song of course.

      • Oh well in that case I’ll take next dibs on Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright, in case Amylee’s choice of Girlfriend in A Coma had already been taken. You already picked In The End didn’t you?

  15. Well, it has to be the Grateful Dead‘s Brokedown Palace.

    Fare you well, my honey
    Fare you well, my only true one
    All the birds that were singing
    Are flown, except you alone

  16. Argh, beaten to Roy Harper!! And I almost posted Jimi playing ‘Hear That Train’ yesterday! So, I’ll go for this. Coltrane just beat Ella by a whisker.

    John Coltrane – Every Time We say Goodbye

    And as a farewell, just let me say in (almost) the words of Arnold “We will be back . . .”

    • I very nearly picked this myself.. awesome piece of music.
      Lyrically I always preferred Julie London’s rendition over Ella Fitzgerald’s, one of the few cases with jazz standards where I think a technically limited, but more emotional performance is better.

      • Nilpferd.
        Sorry to butt in here, don’t know how else to contact you.
        Thanks for dropping the Perpentuum Mobile in the box.
        But I have a problem with it. I coppied and pasted it into my pictures file and tried to play it in Windows Media.
        The sound plays but not the film. A message tells me that there is a Codec error COOD1OD1.
        The Windows help page warns about loading Codecs from unknown online scources.
        I am in no way a techno. Any ideas ?

      • OK, I’ll try reformatting it and pop it back in, might be this afternoon before I get around to it though, have a look again this evening.

      • Oh, I just tried it though and it worked fine.. maybe try this- go to the file name in dropbox, “right button click” on the file name and select “download”, then “open in windows media player”. It should play directly.

        Otherwise you can download it to your computer, I’m not sure quite how you copied and pasted, but perhaps you didn’t get the entire file?

        What version of windows do you have- if XP or older, that might also be a problem. If you have windows 7 it ought to work as I describe above. I’ll put a reformatted version in the box, in any case.

  17. Well, I almost posted the Dead with And we bid you goodnight but I thought that I’d go out on a prog flourish and I have decided to go with Genesis and Watcher of the Skies

    It is about an alien being that visits the Earth at some time in the future when humanity has left for the stars and the planet is deserted

    From life alone to life as one,
    Think not now your journey’s done
    For though your ship be sturdy, no
    Mercy has the sea,
    Will you survive on the ocean of being?
    Come ancient children hear what I say
    This is my parting council for you on your way.

    Sadly now your thoughts turn to the stars
    Where we have gone you know you never can go.
    Watcher of the skies watcher of all
    This is your fate alone, this fate is your own.

  18. Haven’t yet had time to work through all the other songs from the last three weeks – I have to catch up on 500+ work-related emails first – so it’s possible this one has already been taken, but perhaps not in this format: Radiohead’s Exit Music (From A Film), but in the version by Brad Mehldau and his trio.

  19. A big thanks to Tinny for the idea. It’s been a lot of fun. As for a goodbye song well it had to be this.

    One for the Road – Frank Sinatra

  20. Just two housekeeping items left:

    One duplicate remains. My Boomerang Won’t Come Back – Charlie Drake (Day 21: Song That Makes You Laugh): Marconius7 to resolve.

    One debt is outstanding. glassarfemptee owes barbryn a song from Day 29. If nothing turns up, I’ll re-assign his song for amy (on whom TB has now lovingly showered some Sprouts).

    If anyone – Aba? – is planning to fill in their missing days, please could you do it fairly quickly. There’s a small crowd clamouring to know some numbers and stuff relating to the whole Challenge.

    • Apols to Barbryn, and for the record Chris, I’ve now fixed the loose end on day 29, which arose – as usual – due to my incompetence.

  21. Donds to the thanks to Tinny – been a good trip, and I am sorry it’s ending. Only sorry we didn’t get to have Tinny’s own picks. Anyhow, all good things come to an end. (Shame we’ve already had ‘Goodbyes’ on RR, as these are some good picks, and I have a stack of others I could have picked). But here’s Aiden Moffat & the Best Ofs, with ‘My Goodbye’

  22. Well, I’ve picked the perfect “To Live is to Fly” for my funeral song, so here’s something else. It’s a song I know a lot of you hate, but reserve judgement till you’ve heard Sarah Nixey sing it:

    Black Box Recorder – Seasons in the Sun

    Just want to add my thanks to Tin and all of you for making this such an immensely rewarding experience. I’ve been working a lot of evenings this month, and have been impatient for 10pm to roll around. Great music, great stories, great banter – everything I love about RR and The ‘Spill, multiplied.

      • My goodness, I’d never have believed I could stomach this song in any other version other than Brel’s (with you 100% on the Terry Jacks, amylee). Thank you for opening my ears, barbryn!

      • Insofar as it is within my gift to allow it, amy, I have done so. It’s getting a little late to start quibbling.

        (Yes, Sarah Nixey does have a lovely voice but the song is still, er, poo. Or should I say ‘merde’?)

      • Yeah, I think I’m allowed a different version (I refer the court to the precedent of “Going Down to Liverpool”).

        Glad you liked it debby – could you stomach it, amylee?

      • Barbryn, i don’t know. I played it to make sure it was the same as the one i posted, the first line told me that it was, so i bailed out. I think my loathing of the song is far too deeply ingrained since childhood. I hated it then, and it’s festered ever since.

  23. thanks for this Tinny, a great great idea and so much fun. A hectic schedule meant I didn’t get on here every single day, but I enjoyed reading afterwards the ones I missed, and found a lot of great tracks.

    This track works in so many parts for me on this one:

    Faith No More – “From Out Of Nowhere”

    “one minute here, and one minute there…”

    - i’ve been (successfully – Yay!) landing myself a new job these last coupla weeks and have had to snatch moments here and there to join in.

    “….don’t know whether to laugh or cry…”

    - I think the last 30 days has ran the full gamut of emotions..

    “….and then we wave goodbye…..see ya!”

    - that’s the Goodbye song part…

      • Thanks May, …oh… staying here of course, seeing as I just tied myself down to a 35-year mortgage, looks like i’m in for the long haul!

      • YAY! One of my all-time favourite songs.

        And congrats on the new job, Panthersan. Closer to the new home, I trust? A 90min each way commute sounds like a killer to me.

      • Thanks DsD, actually it’s further!!

        It’s going to be over 2 hours from now on, but the hours are better and it’s a bit more steady. The early mornings are going to DsD style early but I should be able to get home at a reasonable hour every day, which will be the first time in many many years for that to happen (I often end up sitting down to eat dinner at 10 or 11pm at the moment, and it was the case when I lived in Tokyo too!)

      • thanks Shane, i’m trying to devise a Henry Ramsey-style (early Neighbours reference alert!) get-rich-quick scheme to pay the mortgage off early but nothing’s coming to mind….

  24. Oh baby, I’m wanting to do you a swap
    I’ll give you anything, yeah
    In return for the noises you’ve got

    Don’t know where we’re going, baby
    I s’pose it depends
    But even if we’re all far apart
    We can all come back and all be fine
    We’ll be able to be together again

    Be together again
    Be together again
    Be together again

    Everybody will be together again!

    Wavin Bye to the Train or the Bus – Arctic Monkeys

  25. One was hoping one would find The Queers “Goodbye California” on Youtube.
    Alas it appears to be too sophisticated for such a forum.
    Instead here they are with a live version of their tender ditty

    See you later Fuckface.

    Joe Queer is the Noel Coward of his generation

  26. I’ll be publishing the ‘results’ later today, which effectively draws a line under the Challenge. So, if anyone is still reading and wants to pick a song or two, please do it in the next few hours. Ta.

    • I think we should all be buying Chris one of Debby’s “Spill pints” in recognition of the sterling work he’s done in keeping tabs on this.
      Also, a packet of paracetamol for the headache it must have given him.

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