They began as a rock and roll freakbeat band called The Spectres. By 1967, with very little commercial success, they discovered psychedelia and changed their name to Traffic (later Traffic Jam, to avoid confusion with Steve Winwood's Traffic.) At this time the line-up also included organist Roy Lynes and drummer John Coghlan. Late in 1967 they recruited second guitarist Rick Parfitt and became The Status Quo, scoring Top 10 singles with Pictures Of Matchstick Men and Ice in The Sun. "Pictures of Matchstick Men" remains the only Top 40 hit single the group has ever charted in the United States. They have never achieved the same level of success there, that they have enjoyed in their home country.
After their second album Spare Parts they decided to change into a heavy boogie rock band. During the seventies they became one of the UK's leading rock bands, gaining a faithful following due to their excellent live gigs. They showed a great amount of energy during this decade and in the early 80s. They and are best known for songs from this era such as Paper Plane (1972), Caroline (1973), Down Down (1975), John Fogerty's Rockin' All Over The World (1977) and Whatever You Want (1979). Down Down topped the UK charts in January 1975 (their only British No. 1 single to date).
Lynes left in 1971, to be replaced initially by guest keyboard players on album, including Jimmy Horowitz and John Parker, and later on a more permanent basis on record and stage by ex-The Herd and Judas Jump member Andy Bown, though as he was contracted as a solo artist with EMI, he was not credited as a full-time member until 1982. Coghlan left in late 1981, to be replaced by Pete Kircher from 1960s band Honeybus. This short-lived lineup played its last gig in 1984 at the Milton Keynes Bowl, and reformed briefly to open the Live Aid charity event at Wembley in July 1985.
That year Rossi recorded and released two solo singles with longtime writing partner Bernie Frost. Parfitt was also working on a solo album which is still unreleased, although some tracks have been re-recorded by Status Quo and released as 'B' sides. Bass player John Edwards and drummer Jeff Rich, both ex-Judie Tzuke Band and Climax Blues Band, assisted Parfitt in the studio.
In the summer of 1985 Rossi, Parfitt and Bown, along with Edwards and Rich started work on a new album. Lancaster, who was living in Australia at the time, took out a legal injunction to stop the band using the Status Quo name on any records. The injunction was lifted after a court hearing in January 1986. Lancaster had had increasing musical differences with the group, notably during the sessions for the 1983 album Back to Back over two tracks which became hit singles for the group around that time. He had written Ol' Rag Blues, but was angered when the producers chose to release a version with Rossi singing lead vocal in preference to the one sung by himself, and he objected to Marguerita Time, which he thought unduly corny and too pop-oriented for them. He remained in Australia, forming a band called Party Boys, who had no success in Britain.
The commercially successful In The Army Now album was released in 1986, and the band continues to this day with the revised personnel. Rich left in 2000 and was replaced by Matthew Letley. Andrew Bown took a year off at the same time for family reasons and was replaced on stage by Paul Hirsh, formerly of Voyager.
According to Songfacts.com, Quo's 29th studio album, Quid Pro Quo, was released in a deluxe format exclusively at Tesco on 30 May 2011. The regular edition was released elsewhere a week later on 7th June. The LP debuted at #10 in the UK charts, the band's best chart placing for an original album since Don't Stop peaked at #2 in 1996.
Although Quo still release new material every few years, recent years have seen them release a series of greatest hits compilations and covers albums. One of the band's most recent original albums, Heavy Traffic, shows a return to classic form not seen since the late 1970s.
Status Quo have often been characterized, perhaps unfairly, as producing very simple songs, always in the same format: 4/4 rhythm, three chord structure. However, the recordings from their first decade demonstrate a diversity in musical style and complexity to rival most of the late 60s UK bands, and several of their singles and album tracks from later show considerable subtlety, not least the mainly acoustic 1979 single Living On An Island, and the 1980 album track, later a single, Rock'n'Roll, which is ironically one of the least rock'n'roll-like songs they have ever recorded.
They have a loyal group of fans in the United Kingdom, where they have enjoyed more hits than any other group in rock and roll history (over 60 as of mid-2005), as well as a big following in Europe, notably in The Netherlands.
In September 2005 a contestant on the long-running BBC television quiz programme Mastermind chose Status Quo as his specialist subject. That same year they took part in the long running ITV soap opera Coronation Street in a storyline which involved them being sued by the layabout Les Battersby.
In December 2005 it was announced that Parfitt was undergoing tests for throat cancer. All subsequent dates of the UK tour were cancelled as a result. However on 20th December it was further announced that the growths found in Parfitt's throat were benign and had been removed.
Quo have even been the subject of a Doctoral Thesis, purporting to demonstrate that their music composition skills could be favourably compared to the likes of the classical music composers, such as Beethoven!
In Autumn 2008 German techno legend Scooter released new single Jump that rock together with Status Quo.
On 1 February 2016, it was officially announced that Status Quo, in addition to the spring and summer dates already scheduled, would tour Europe starting in October. The final dates would take place in the UK towards the end of the year, after which the group would retire from playing 'electric' tours.
On 28 October 2016, Rick Parfitt permanently retired from live performances after suffering a heart attack earlier the same year. On 24 December 2017, he died in hospital in Marbella, Spain as a result of severe infection, after suffering an injury to his shoulder. Parfitt's funeral was held at Woking Crematorium on 19 January 2017. Irish guitarist Richie Malone, who had substituted for Parfitt during some 2016 live shows, took his place on rhythm guitar.
Goodbye Baby
Status Quo Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I see a full moon rising
It's my red cadillac
My baby's leaving me
Now thing's are getting harder
'cos she's gone from a to b
She's on a long dusty track
My days are looking black
Ain't no way to be
See I don't care about my baby
But my cadillac is all to me
So goodbye baby baby goodbye
Goodbye baby baby goodbye
If you come running
Gonna have to ask you why
When I'm back in the sack
And I'm realising
I know she ain't coming back
It's so plain to see
Don't wanna hear about my baby
Just want my caddy back with me
I'm sitting here out the back
And I'm still surviving
Guess she ain't coming back
So plain to see
Now things are getting harder
Since she's gone away from me
So goodbye baby baby goodbye
Goodbye baby baby goodbye
If you come running
Gonna have to ask you why
Don't wanna hear about my baby
Just want my caddy back with me
In Status Quo's song "Goodbye Baby," we hear the story of a man who is more in love with his car than with his woman. The song begins with the man noticing a car outside, his own red Cadillac which he loves more than anything in the world. He soon realizes that his woman has left him and is now gone. He doesn't care about her, only about his car which is all that matters to him. The man's days are looking bleak and he's starting to feel the impact of the breakup. However, he still sees the silver lining in everything, as long as his Cadillac is still with him.
In the second half of the song, the man is feeling the reality of his situation. He's back in bed, realizing that his woman is not coming back to him. All he wants is his Cadillac back with him, and he doesn't care about his lost love. He's still surviving without her, and he'd rather not hear about what happened to her. All he wants is his car, and his dependence on this inanimate object is made clear in the song's lyrics.
Line by Line Meaning
I hear a car out the back
I hear a car engine from the back of my house.
I see a full moon rising
The night is dark and the moon is bright.
It's my red cadillac
The car that is parked outside my house is my red cadillac automobile.
My baby's leaving me
My girlfriend is leaving me and I'm watching her go.
Now thing's are getting harder
My life is getting more difficult now that she's gone from me.
'cos she's gone from a to b
My girlfriend has left without any explanation.
She's on a long dusty track
My girlfriend has gone on a long journey to escape from me.
Sure ain't surprising
It's not unexpected that she left me for good.
My days are looking black
My future looks bleak and hopeless now.
Ain't no way to be
This is not how I want my life to be right now.
See I don't care about my baby
I don't care about losing my girlfriend.
But my cadillac is all to me
All I care about is getting my red cadillac back.
So goodbye baby baby goodbye
Farewell, my ex-girlfriend, I'm not going to mourn your departure.
Goodbye baby baby goodbye
My last goodbye to my ex-girlfriend.
If you come running
If you decide to come back to me.
Gonna have to ask you why
I'm going to ask for an explanation for why you left me.
When I'm back in the sack
When I find someone else to replace you in my bed.
And I'm realising
When I finally come to the realization that you're not coming back.
I know she ain't coming back
I acknowledge the fact that my ex-girlfriend is not going to return to me.
It's so plain to see
The evidence is clear that she has left me for good.
Don't wanna hear about my baby
I don't want anyone to talk about or remind me of my ex-girlfriend.
Just want my caddy back with me
All I'm hoping and waiting for is to get my red cadillac back.
Contributed by Bella O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Jaime Alvarado
on Rain
great song ,,, !!!!!!!