The title sorta says it all don’t it?
Here’s a brief explanation from the man who wrote it: “Goodbye, Good Luck, Good Riddance is about the ultimate realisation that the person you thought you loved, and tried everything to be with – including remarkable self-sacrafice, compromise and candour – had already left you, mentally, while you tried to patch things up. It’s about the things you hear back through friends that she’s said about you, the way your mutual friends change the way they look at you – the way a woman (or indeed, a man) can sabotage so much, when someone gives everything to them. It’s not a happy song, but its a relieved song. It’s a ‘f*ck you’ to the guilty party and a smile towards the horizon.”
That’s a first for me, where the band actually gives me a heads up on how to interpret the song lyrically. Doesn’t necessarily make it any easier or harder to review, but I figured hey – he told me, and I’ll just quote him. All for the benefit of you, the avid Single of the Day listener.
For me it I’ll tone it down for this instance that relates to me. I recently decided to let go of a new friend based on a really uncool thing of not showing up for an event. So while it wasn’t about love, it was about a lack of manners. Something I don’t like to tolerate is wasting time when I have friends pulling strings for me to help me out. Especially when I do a favor for another friend and bail them out last minute on something important to them. Which happened to me this past weekend. Essentially, I haven’t heard from this person so I’ve removed the contact info, and pulled the old “take ‘m off the myspace friends list” thing. I guess you know you’ve done something uncool if someone takes the time to remove you from their friend list eh? As far as I know, said individual probably doesn’t care, so I say Goodbye, Good Luck and Good Riddance.
I have a song that’s sorta in the same lyrical vein, only a lot more harsh in presentation and direction, called ‘Splitting the Scene‘. As for the Joel Lightman Band, I like the fact that the music is the exact opposite of the lyrics. It’s upbeat, it’s snappy. I think it’s everything it should be for the party issuing the statement. You should keep the head up and smile as you walk off, right? For that alone you need to own this song. Actually I’ve checked out a bunch of the album. It’s got lot of flavor to it, explore – I think you’ll like it too. This song just happened to catch my ear for the moment I needed to vent about ill-manners and wanting to tell someone off, even if they’re not listening.