“Goodbye Girl” by Squeeze

"Goodbye Girl" was the first single Squeeze pulled off Cool for Cats, their second album, and it also turned up on the 1979 EP 6 Squeeze Songs Crammed Into One Ten-Inch Record. Glenn Tilbrook wrote the music and Chris Difford the words, and Tilbrook was horrified when somebody later told him his chirpy tune sounded like the Muppets theme. The band cut it three different ways, with separate versions for the single in Britain, the single in America and the album.

The secret weapon is Gilson Lavis. The drummer arranged the percussion himself, strung up a clothesline of bottles, tins and scrap metal and whacked away at that in place of a kit, stacking four overdubbed parts; the actual drums hold off until the third verse. It's a daffy, homemade sound, and it works. On the UK singles chart it stalled at number 63.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.