Goodnight songs

Subject: Goodnight songs
From: GUEST,Peg
Date: 10 Aug 03 - 02:43 PM

Does anyone know why they call them "goodnight songs"?

Subject: RE: Goodnight songs
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 10 Aug 03 - 03:28 PM

I recall a friend of mine finishing a night in the pub with Goodnight Ladies - You know someone is geting desperate when thry get to "Goodnight Landlady's second cousin half removed's best friend Doris's favourite dog Elmo!".
He was still in the pub singing, half an hour later as we left and saw the door locked behind us...
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: Goodnight songs
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 10 Aug 03 - 03:47 PM

Goodnight songs- do you mens songs like Goodnight Ladies, which close up the joint-dance etc.? Or Goodnight Joe, Me Gotta Go? (or was that goodbye?).
Some I remember: Goodby, Old Paint, Should Auld Aquaintance ---, The Waltz You Saved for me, Goodnight, Sweetheart, Till We Meet Again,

Subject: RE: Goodnight songs
From: Sorcha
Date: 10 Aug 03 - 03:50 PM

On the Goodnight Loving Trail...........(grin)

Subject: RE: Goodnight songs
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 10 Aug 03 - 03:55 PM

Goodbye, Old Strawberry Blonde?

Subject: RE: Goodnight songs
From: GUEST,Peg
Date: 10 Aug 03 - 04:25 PM

No--I mean songs like Newry Town and The Flash Lad. They call them "goodnight songs," apparently.

Subject: RE: Goodnight songs
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 10 Aug 03 - 05:33 PM

Who calls those songs that? In England? The subject is saying goodnight in a permanent way, but I havent heard them called that in the States or Canada.

Subject: RE: Goodnight songs
From: GUEST,Pete Peterson
Date: 11 Aug 03 - 05:32 PM

Stating the obvious, the protagonist is about to be executed, and is saying his "goodnight" to all. McPherson's Lament would be a good example, as are the ones you gave.

Subject: RE: Goodnight songs
From: Joe_F
Date: 11 Aug 03 - 07:02 PM

Ah well, in *that* case, "The Night before Larry was Stretched".

Subject: RE: Goodnight songs
From: Nerd
Date: 12 Aug 03 - 01:44 PM

The term you're looking for is "goodnight ballads." The idea is that it is the criminal's "last goodnight."

Peter Bellamy used to say that it was a curious fact that no-one ever says "good night" in a goodnight ballad. He was wrong, of course. In the most common family of goodnight ballads, which includes Newry Highwayman, Flash Lad, Adieu Adieu, etc, the protagonist "shut the shutters and bade them good night." Indeed, the various versions of this ballad are so widespread that it is conceivable that the term "goodnight ballad" derives from this line.

Subject: RE: Goodnight songs
From: bflat
Date: 12 Aug 03 - 11:18 PM

I heard a song two days ago on the radio that I would classify as a "Goodnight Song." It is by Tom Chapin entitled: I Need A Lullaby. It has a soothing sound. Very sweet, definiately not a horrid tale. I don't remember the CD's title but a search would likely provide that info.

Ellen