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Bye-Bye Blues
Words & Music by Fred Hamm, Dave Bennett, Bert Lown & Chauncey Gray, 1925Recorded by Les Paul & Mary Ford, 1952*
Also recorded by Bert Kaempfert, 1966* (instrumental, without verse)
Intro verse: G C7 G E7 I got a big surprise when I saw you smile; A9 D7 G Edim D7 I never dreamed that it could be. G C7 G E7 But now I realize since I saw you smile A7 D7 G7+ There's only happiness for me, so... Melody: C G#7 C Gm A7 Bye bye blues, bye bye blues; D7 G7 Bells ring, birds sing, C Cdim Dm7 G7 Dm7 G7+ Sun is shi - ning, no more pi - ning, C G#7 C Gm A7 Just we two smi-ling through; D7 G7 Don't sigh, don't cry, C G#7 C Am Dm7 G7 Bye bye blues. Last time: C G#7 C F7 C Bye bye blues.
*This version synthesizes several, but I'm crediting Bert Kaempfert's for no better reason than his instrumental version was the first one I heard that made a major impression on me (I liked the slow swing he gave the song) and also the Les Paul/Mary Ford version because it shows what you can do with the same song if you kick it up a notch or two in tempo. Neither included the verse, which I'm including anyway, though I can't recall whose version that came from.
A recent visitor provided a this bit of nearly-first-hand information asking me to show the correct data for when this song was actually written:
"Hi, appreciate your giving publicity to Bye Bye Blues. Believe it or not, it's still paying royalties. Although Fred Hamm died in 1932 his wife, my wife's grandmother, got them for years. Then the royalties went to her second son, Fred F. Hamm. Now they'll go the children of Fred F. Hamm's brother. So, your publicity may give my wife a wee bit of money.
"However, I noticed that in your site you mention 1930 as the date of composition. I'm sitting here looking at the original contract for the sale of the composition to Irving Berlin, Inc. It's dated 16 April 1925, so the song must have been put together in late 1924 or early 1925.
"I'm mentioning this because your site is referenced in Wikipedia as one of the possible dates for the composition of Bye Bye Blues."
- Eric Rasmussen
I would caution you, just as I cautioned Eric, to be at least a bit skeptical of whatever "facts" you find on Wikipedia. The site itself acknowledges that its entires are not subject to verification before they are included -- and I can assure you that, while I may more stubborn than many when it comes to trying to dig out and verify authorship data that I post here, I would NOT consider myself an "authority" on ANYTHING.