Wednesday, December 10, 2014

I Think I Stumped the Internet

I have just spent a few minutes attempting to find the original usage of the phrase "goodbye cruel world." The Internet doesn't seem to know. 

Wikipedia tells me it's the name of albums by Elvis Costello & the Attractions (1984) as well as a best of album from band called Custard (12000). It's the name of songs by James Darren (1961), Pink Floyd (1979), and Shakespeare's Sister(1991), It's the name of a British Miniseries (1992) and a 1982 movie starring Dick Shawn. Wikipedia also informs me that it's "a cliched phrase used in literature and song usually referring to a statement before contemplating suicide." But no indication of who used it before it was a cliche,

Elsewhere, I find that the phrase has been used in animated entertainment by both Homer Simpson and Daffy Duck (a possible contender for first usage, maybe?), among others. It's the name of an episode of M*A*S*H. And in terms of quotations, a number of people seem to be impressed by its appearance in Hocus Pocus

But nowhere can I find anything that will tell me what the definitive first usage is. 

The hive mind has failed me. Ah well, life goes on.

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