Pop Music

What? Join the circus because a woman broke your heart? “Goodbye Cruel World” was written by Gloria Shayne Baker, who also wrote the well-known Christmas carol “Do You Hear What I Hear?” The song went to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961. It sold more than one million copies, and was awarded an RIAA Gold Record.

James Darren was born James William Ercolani, in 1936 in Philadelphia. He is a TV and film actor, television director, and singer, who began his career as a teen idol. He acted in films (e.g., as Moondoggie in the film Gidget, Gidget Goes Hawaiian, Gidget Goes to Rome ) and recorded a string of pop hits for Colpix Records, the biggest of which was “Goodbye Cruel World.” Darren, playing pop idol “Kip Dennis,” performed the song on a late 1961 episode of The Donna Reed Show. Darren has been on many TV shows, including The Time Tunnel, T.J. Hooker, Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He continues to tour and perform.

Here are the lyrics to “Goodbye Cruel World” by James Darren:

(Goodbye cruel world)
(Goodbye cruel world)

Oh, goodbye cruel world, I’m off to join the circus
Gonna be a broken-hearted clown
Paint my face with a good-for-nothin’ smile
’cause a mean, fickle woman turned my whole world upside down

(Goodbye cruel world)

Farewell to love, I’m off to join the circus
Gotta find a way to hide my tears
Bet I’ll have them rolling in the aisle
And I’ll forget that woman if it takes a hundred years

Oh oh oh, step right up and take a look at a fool
He’s got a heart as stubborn as a mule
C’mon everybody, he’s good for a laugh
And no one could tell his heart is broken in half

Well, the joke’s on me, I’m off to join the circus
Oh, Mr. Barnum, save a place for me
Shoot me out of a cannon, I don’t care
Let the people point at me and stare
I’ll tell the world that woman, wherever she may be
That mean, fickle woman made a cryin’ clown outta me

(Goodbye cruel world)

Shoot me out of a cannon, I don’t care
Let the people point at me and stare
I’ll tell the world that woman, wherever she may be
That mean, fickle woman made a cryin’ clown outta me

Goodbye cruel world
Goodbye cruel world

[Fade]

Goodbye cruel world
Goodbye cruel world

If you are interested in an album by James Darren, please click the photo below:

For More Golden Oldies Music       

The Daily Doo Wop Rec Room has daily featured doo wop, rock and roll, R&B, or rockabilly songs that were hits during the first era of rock and roll (that is, from about 1952 until the British invasion in 1964). After a song is featured, it then goes into the juke box. You are welcome to listen to any of the 40+ selections there. Every weekend, there is a Golden Oldies Juke Box Saturday Night, and the juke box is full of song requests from the 1950s and 1960s.

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