Song of the Day 11/14: Scandal, “Goodbye to You”

To everything there is a season, and with you-know-who in mind, this is the season for kiss-off songs. This New Wave classic by Patty Smyth and Scandal was the standout track on the band’s introductory EP in 1982.

The song, written by guitarist and band leader Zack Smith, reached only No. 65 on the Hot 100, but No. 5 on the Album Rock chart, and the video got a fair bit of MTV airplay despite looking like someone’s 8th-grade class project. Smyth’s sassy performance is the obvious reason why. Fun fact: The synth solo (this was New Wave, kids, they liked synths that much) on the record is actually performed by Letterman bandleader Paul Shaffer; Scandal’s Benjy King is just faking it on the video.

Here’s Scandal doing it in concert sometime in the early ’80s.

I knew that Smyth, who’s been busy being Mrs. John McEnroe since 1997, is launching a comeback, but I swear, when I chose the song I didn’t know she performed a Trump-specific version with Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show a couple of days ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cD1WWjcjd0

As a special bonus, here’s the first place I ever saw Patty Smyth. I can attest that this is the only soda commercial I’ve ever wanted to watch more than once.