"Caroline Goodbye"

Backdated, archival post

[link to original on tumblr]

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This morning, I was thinking about "Caroline Goodbye," specifically the first line: "Saw your picture in the paper."  It has a certain similarity to the beginning of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life" ("I read the news today... I saw the photograph").  According to Wikipedia, the Caroline in the song is an actual person, so I'm not sure if that similarity is an intentional reference.  It could have just been an actual thing that happened.  I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Also, in writing down a note about this so I would remember to post it here later, I almost mis-typed "Caroline Goodbye" as "Caroline, No," the last track from the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album.  I've actually mixed them up a few times because the titles are rather similar.  But then I started wondering if that's intentional.  I vaguely remember something about Tony Asher's mishearing "Carol, I Know" and coming up with "Caroline, No," which he and Brian Wilson liked because it was an odd-sounding phrase.  "Caroline Goodbye" has that same sort of weird inversion.  I think most people would just say, "Goodbye, Caroline."  And in interviews that bring up Pet Sounds’ influence on Odessey and Oracle, Blunstone has said he's a fan of the Beach Boys, so he'd probably be familiar with the song.