Goodnight ladies, ladies goodnight
It's time to say goodbye
Let me tell you, now, goodnight ladies, ladies goodnight
It's time to say goodbye

Ah, all night long you've been drinking your tequilla rye
But now you've sucked your lemon peel dry
So why not get high, high, high and
Goodnight ladies, ladies goodnight

Goodnight ladies, ladies goodnight
It's time to say goodbye
Goodnight sweet ladies, all ladies goodnight
It's time to say goodbye, bye-bye

Ah, we've been together for the longest time
But now it's time to get high
Come on, let's get high, high, high
And goodnight ladies, ladies goodnight

Oh, I'm still missing my other half
Oh, it must be something I did in the past
Don't it just make you wanna laugh
It's a lonely Saturday night
Oh, nobody calls me on the telephone
I put another record on my stereo
But I'm still singing a song of you
It's a lonely Saturday night

Now, if I was an actor or a dancer that was glamorous
Then, you know, an amorous life would soon be mine
But now the tinsel light of star break
Is all that's left to applaud my heart break
And eleven o'clock I watch the network news

Oh, oh, oh, something tells me that you're really gone
You said we could be friends, but that's not what's not what I want
And, anyway, my TV-dinner's almost done
It's a lonely Saturday night
I mean to tell you, it's a lonely Saturday night
One more word, it's a lonely Saturday night


Lyrics submitted by spliphstar, edited by goodnews

Goodnight Ladies Lyrics as written by

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Goodnight Ladies song meanings
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6 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment

    Actually, I think Eliot himself lifted that from Shakespeare; Ophelia's last words are "Goodnight, sweet ladies, goodnight" before she drowns herself after being rejected by Hamlet - which fits in with the idea of being left by your other half. The narrator goes home after a night of debauchery or what have you (the oompah brass sound seems to link in with the transvestite theme in "Make Up", and just the way Lou sings it is very camp and sexy) and is alone with his TV dinner and his self-pity. It might even go back to the Factory days - being surrounded by people enjoying the high life (tequila), but everything being so superficial; it's fun and you enjoy it as much as you possibly can (sucking the lemon peel dry) but you still end up going home alone. And in the absence of human company, why not get high.

    seasicksarahon July 18, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    When I first heard this at the end of the transformer, because it's just a lazy kind of song about nothing in particular. But it's sung in such a sexy way you pay attention right up to the end. though I think it's more; 'time to get hi-i-igh...'

    Coney_island_babyon December 15, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    this song is absolutely awesome. it makes me thing of a decadent glamrocker, watching tv in the dark, drinking his tequilla and thinking about the girl that left him. or something like that. perfect.

    gummibärchenon December 12, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    has anyone else felt the connection with this song and a section of TS Eliiots wasteland? it's something like.. good night ladies.. sweet ladies.. quite similar. both brilliant men.

    loureedon May 24, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    !! I was JUST about to write the same thing when listening and reading the Waste Land! It's in the poem's second part "A Game of Chess" that ends with the lines: "Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night. " And I was gonna ask if anyone else had noticed that or I was reading too much in to it. But then again it's a reference without any further point - Lou, like Eliot, being the master of fragment poetry.

    kea1on November 27, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    this song perfectly recreates some scenes of catcher in the rye for me

    transformer01on October 13, 2011   Link

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