"Goodbye Cruel World" is a song written by Gloria Shayne Baker and recorded by James Darren in 1961.

Background

The song is about a man whose heart was broken by a "mean fickle woman", and his plan to join the circus as a brokenhearted clown. He does not mind being shot out of a cannon, and plans to tell the world that she "made a crying clown" out of him. According to disc jockeys at the time the song was released, the calliope-like riff used in the song based on the "Entrance of the Gladiators" theme, was a synthesized recording of a woman's voice rather than a musical instrument.

Chart history

Darren scored his first top ten hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, at number three. On the Cash Box Top 100, it spent two weeks at number two. It would prove the biggest hit of his career on this chart, as well as on the UK Singles Chart (no. 28).