I was born on a farm out in Ioway
A flaming youth who was bound that he’d fly away
I packed my grip and I grabbed my saxophone
Can’t read notes, but I play anything by ear
I made up tunes on the sounds that I used to hear
When I’d start to play, folks used to say
“Sounds a little Goofus to me”
Is anyone else going goofy from the non-stop news on television about the Iowa Caucus?
Today’s feature youtube song is Goofus, a pop song from 1930. The lyrics are by Gus Kahn and the music is by Wayne King and William Harold, published by Leo Feist Inc, New York 1930. The sheet music calls Goffus a Fox Trot song. The picture on the sheet music shows the Goofus Bird, the official insignia of Goofus CLubs of America.
Goofus was quite popular in the earl 1930s. It was later recorded by Les Paul in 1950 and made the charts.
Here’s an early recording of Goofus by Red Nichols and his Five Pennies (get it? nickels and pennies!) recorded in 1932.
Paul Godwin’s band made an instrumental recording of Goofus in 1932 by Paul Godwin for Grammophon records. This is an excellent rendition of Goofus.
Here’s Les Paul’s 1950 hit recording of Goofus. Les Paul pinoneered multi-track recording and plays the melody, harmony and rhythm.
The Carpenters also covered Goofus in 1976
A recording by Phil Harris from 1950.
Here’s a wacky live performance of Goofus by the Cumberland Ridge Runners from the early 1930’s Their performing for a classroom full of children. Every verse in the middle of the song, they all switch instruments. The musicians are stone-faced the whole time. Hilarious!
Here’s Goofus from The Lawrence Welk Show from 1977, with song and dance routine.
A Japanese girl plays Goofus on the ukulele…
GOOFUS lyrics
I was born on a farm out in Ioway
A flaming youth who was bound that he’d fly away
I packed my grip and I grabbed my saxophone
Can’t read notes, but I play anything by ear
I made up tunes on the sounds that I used to hear
When I’d start to play, folks used to say
“Sounds a little Goofus to me”
Bridge:
Cornfed chords appeal to me
I like rustic harmony
Hold a note and change the key
Hey, that’s called Goofus
No, not according to the rules
That you learn at music schools
But the folks just dance like fools
They all go Goofus
Got a job but I just couldn’t keep it long
The leader says that I played all the music wrong
So I stepped out with an outfit of my own
Got together a new kind of orchestry
And we all played the same Goofus harmony
And I must admit, we sure made a hit
Goofus has been lucky for me
(extended instrumental break)
Chords:
Intro:
Verse
D Bm D Bm
G Em G Em
D Bm D Bm G
D Bm D Bm
G Em G
E7 A7
D7 G
Bridge:
G-bar
F#-bar
F-bar
E7 A7 D D7
