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Standin' at the door of the pink Flamingo cryin' in the rain,
It was a kind of so-so love and I'm gonna make sure it doesn't happen again,
You and I had to be the standing joke of the year,
You were a runaround, a lost and found and not for me I feel,
Take your hands off me, hey,
I don't belong to you, you see,
And take a look in my face, for the last time,
I never knew you, you never knew me,
Say hello goodbye,
Say hello and wave goodbye,
We tried to make it work, you in a cocktail skirt and me in a suit but it just wasn't me,
You're used to wearing less, and now your life's a mess, so insecure you see,
I put up with all the scenes, this is one scene that's goin' to be played my way
Say hello and wave goodbye
Under the deep red light I can see the make-up slidin' down,
Well hey little girl you will always make up so take off that unbecoming frown,
As for me, well I'll find someone who's not goin' cheap in the sales,
A nice little housewife who'll give me a steady life and not keep going
Off the rails,
Say hello and wave goodbye
Say hello and wave goodbye
Say hello and wave goodbye
It was a kind of so-so love and I'm gonna make sure it doesn't happen again,
You and I had to be the standing joke of the year,
You were a runaround, a lost and found and not for me I feel,
Take your hands off me, hey,
I don't belong to you, you see,
And take a look in my face, for the last time,
I never knew you, you never knew me,
Say hello goodbye,
Say hello and wave goodbye,
We tried to make it work, you in a cocktail skirt and me in a suit but it just wasn't me,
You're used to wearing less, and now your life's a mess, so insecure you see,
I put up with all the scenes, this is one scene that's goin' to be played my way
Say hello and wave goodbye
Under the deep red light I can see the make-up slidin' down,
Well hey little girl you will always make up so take off that unbecoming frown,
As for me, well I'll find someone who's not goin' cheap in the sales,
A nice little housewife who'll give me a steady life and not keep going
Off the rails,
Say hello and wave goodbye
Say hello and wave goodbye
Say hello and wave goodbye
Lyrics submitted by BigKaboshProductions
Track duration: 09:01
"Say Hello Wave Goodbye" as written by Marc/ball Almond
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I agree with everyone though, this song can be interepretted in so many ways. sad song. :(
The original is sung with powerful, defiant anger, Marc Almond positively spits the words "going cheap in the sale", the emotion during the "take your hands off me" line, the authority of him saying 'you WILL not do this to me anymore, I am not yours to destroy' is amazing.
David Gray sings the entire thing without breaking stride, without a hint of emotion other than melancholy, and this song is NOT about melancholy. It's about release, freedom, and anger, about taking back your life.
Absolutely abysmal.
He even had the nerve to change the lyric from "you were a sleeparound" to "you were a runaround", presumably because the average Gray fan might burst into tears if the great man sang anything that wasn't housewife-friendly. I can't think of any other reason.
Marc Almond sang this song with power, emotion and feeling. Gray sings it like he's waiting to have his diaper changed. Appalling, appalling, appalling.
"Standing at the door of the Pink Flamingo crying in the rain"
I've seen a lot of Pink Flamingo's in my day, but never one that wasn't a gay bar...
"And I'm going to make sure it doesn't happen again
You and I had to be the standing joke of the year"
He could be saying that he's terrified of what people think of him and he doesn't want to admit that he's gay.
"Under the deep red lights I can see the makeup sliding down
Well hey little girl you will always make up
So take off that unbecoming frown
As for me, well, I'll find someone who's not going cheap in the sales
A nice little housewife who'll give me the steady life
And not keep going off the rails"
I get the impression that he met his lover (who dressed in drag) at a gay bar. He can't admit to himself that he is gay, and that is why he is lashing out so vengefully at his partner, calling him cheap and overly dramatic. In the last lines of this verse he claims that he is going to find "a nice little housewife" because he wants a life that people will perceive as normal more than he wants to be true to himself.
"Take a look in my face for the last time
I never knew you, you never knew me
Say hello, goodbye
Say hello and wave goodbye"
The author is renouncing any connection to the love which he sees as forbidden. It's not enough to end the relationship, he wants to hurt his partner, he wants to erase any trace of the feelings that he can't come to grips with. It's sad really...
Just my interpretation, but take into account that Marc Almond, the lead singer of Soft Cell is gay.