Goodbye, My Love

11/18/18

This one came out of left field, I suppose.

"Goodbye, My Love" is the song that the character 'Mother' sings at the beginning of the Musical "Ragtime"  If you haven't seen this musical, you really should- it's an entertaining and educational piece about America at the turn of the 20th century.  The music is some of the best written for musical theater in the last 25 years.  What's best about it is the merging of music from the era along with contemporary sounds.

Back in 1997, as a newly-graduated high schooler, I went to California to tour with my choir.  We forked over some cash for the tour and were told that we would be seeing a Broadway musical.  We anticipated it would be Phantom of the Opera or Les Miserables, and were sorely disappointed to find out we would be seeing something called 'Ragtime'

Long story short- it was really good and I'm still a fan of the show.

So, if you're curious what's going on in this song, the character of Mother is singing just as her husband (Father) is leaving on an expedition to the north pole.  Father leaving on this adventure forces Mother to go on a journey of her own and I suppose this song sets up her character.  It's a fine song, probably not the first one I would share with you from this production, but since it's the one in my head, it's what you'll hear.  But if you're looking for a pretty decent musical, and you're not already familiar with 'Ragtime,' I'd suggest taking a listen or two.

Here's "Goodbye, my love" from Ragtime.  (the recording I found on YouTube rolls into another song about 2 minutes in)





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