“Goodby”
by Little Ritchie Marsh
1963 song
First off, yes it’s really spelled "Goodby", not “Goodbye”. The song was on Sky Saxon’s fourth solo single, released in April 1963. It was credited to Little Ritchie Marsh (a version of Sky’s real name) and was paired with the song "They Say" (a song he would later recut).
Like "They Say", "Goodby" begins with a proto-psych organ, this time long heavy one-note tones over which Sky – excuse us, Ritchie – cries out about his latest inane romantic entanglement. And he sounds good, too; in contrast to his previous singles the vocalist is finally starting to cut his amazing voice loose. It even breaks a little as he strains for some emotional high notes and the effect is great.
Most of "Goodby", of course, is paint-by-numbers early rock ‘n’ roll that would hold little interest today were it not for the illustrious future of its nasally singer. With a melody, pace, and arrangement very (very) similar to the single’s flip side, "Goodby" features a bouncy saxophone that inflates the rhythm track. There’s an erratic stagger to "Goodby", nice for Seeds (or Yodship) fans looking back on it now but that must have seemed amateurish at the time.
"Goodby" can be found on a rare original vinyl single (if you’re lucky and have deep pockets) or on the 2003 LP Sky Saxon Presents "A Starlight Date With Richard Marsh", which itself used a vinyl single as a source but with heavy noise compression added.
