Good-bye-ee is a popular song which was written and composed by R. P. Weston and Bert Lee. Performed by music hall stars Florrie Forde, Daisy Wood and Charles Whittle, it was a hit in 1917.
Weston and Lee got the idea for this song when they saw a group of factory girls calling out goodbye to soldiers marching to Victoria station. They were saying the word in the exaggerated way which had been popularised as a catchphrase by comedian Harry Tate. They then travelled to Brighton and wrote the song on a wet afternoon in their cabin under the pier. The song lent its name to Goodbyeee, the final episode of the sitcom Blackadder Goes Forth. The salutations at the end of the chorus are from various languages. Bonsoir is French for goodnight. Chin-chin is a Chinese toast. Nahpoo and toodle-oo are English idioms from corruptions of the French il n'y en a plus (there is no more) and à tout à l'heure (see you later).
Robert Patrick Weston - (né Harris; (March 1878 – November 1936) was an English songwriter. He was responsible for many successful songs and comic monologues between the 1900s and 1930s, mostly written in collaboration with other writers, notably Fred J. Barnes and Bert Lee, and performed successfully by Harry Champion, Stanley Holloway, and Gracie Fields, among others. He sold his first song, Boys of the Chelsea School, to the publishing firm of Francis, Day and Hunter in 1902; it was popularised on stage by George Leyton. Weston continued to write songs himself, and in collaboration with other songwriters. Among the most successful and lasting songs from the early part of his career were What a Mouth, sung by Harry Champion in 1906 and successfully revived in 1960 by Tommy Steele; and I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am, written with Fred Murray in 1910 and also popularised and first recorded by Champion, which became a Billboard Hot 100 number 1 for Herman's Hermits in the U.S. in 1965. Weston had a successful songwriting partnership with Fred J. Barnes. They co-wrote Little Willie's Woodbines (1908); I've Got Rings On My Fingers (1909); and When Father Papered the Parlour (1910, plus many others. He also sang in the original Theatre Workshop production of Oh, What a Lovely War! in 1963. After Weston's death, his house was occupied by his two daughters who lived there into old age, with Weston and Lee's papers sitting untouched and unlooked-at. Their present whereabouts are mostly unknown though several items have appeared on eBay, including Weston and Lee's three-volume workbook, containing manuscript versions of many, if not all, their songs, which it is now known is in the hands of a collector of music hall memorabilia. In 1985, the entertainer Roy Hudd created a stage show based on the songs of Weston and Lee, Just a Verse and a Chorus, performed by Hudd and Billy Dainty. Hudd also adapted the stage show into a series of shows for BBC Radio 2.
William Herbert Lee (June 1880 – January 1946) was an English songwriter. He wrote for music hall and the musical stage, often in partnership with R. P. Weston. Born in Ravensthorpe, Yorkshire. He played organ in his local chapel as a child, and initially worked as a piano tuner in Manchester, before joining a travelling concert party as a pianist. His first successful song as a writer was Joshu-ah!, co-written with George Arthurs and performed by Clarice Mayne in 1910. He found further success in 1913 with Hello! Hello! Who's Your Lady Friend?, written with Worton David and the song's performer, Harry Fragson. In 1915, music publisher David Day, introduced Lee to R. P. Weston, the collaborator with whom Lee had the most lasting relationship. They immediately found success together with Lloyd George's Beer Song (1915) and "Good-bye-ee!" (1917) made popular by Florrie Forde and Paddy McGinty's Goat, later revived by Val Doonican in 1964. They worked together over the next twenty years on some 3000 songs and monologues, 75 stage shows and musicals, and 17 films, as well as for pantomimes and radio shows. A programme exploring the lives and work of Weston and Lee was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 16 June 2009, presented by Children's Laureate Michael Rosen.
