Standards · 1959
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat chords & key
“Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” is a jazz standard by Charles Mingus from 1959. Most bands play it in E♭ major, ballad; the tune runs 24 bars in AA form. In this atlas it appears on 3 album tracks.
Chord changes
Showing in: Concert (C) — E♭ major
Changes as commonly played (concert pitch). Your band's version may differ.
Harmonic analysis
Most used chords
- E♭mmaj7×17
- A♭7×10
- A♭m7×8
- B13×6
- B7×6
- E♭7♯9×5
History
"Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" is a jazz instrumental composed by Charles Mingus, originally recorded by his sextet in 1959 and released on his album Mingus Ah Um. One of Mingus's best-known compositions, "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" became a jazz standard, recorded by other jazz and jazz fusion artists. Mingus wrote it as an elegy for saxophonist Lester Young, who had died two months prior to the recording session and who was known for wearing unusually broad-brimmed pork pie hats. These were "busted down" by Young himself, from hats that might better be described as Homburgs, but which he only purchased in "Negro districts". This was since, according to an interview with Young in the November 1949 edition of Our World, "You can't get the right type in a 'gray' neighborhood". In June 2026, CBS News included the song in its list of the 250 essential American songs of the past 250 years.
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Recorded on these albums
| 1975 | Joni Mitchell Live: Bread & Roses Festival, 1975 Joni Mitchell · “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (Live)” |
| 1979 | Mingus Joni Mitchell |
| 1980 | Shadows and Light Joni Mitchell |
Frequently asked questions
What key is Goodbye Pork Pie Hat in?
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat is usually played in E♭ major. For B♭ instruments that is F major, for E♭ instruments C major.
Who wrote Goodbye Pork Pie Hat?
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat was written by Charles Mingus (1959).
What is the form of Goodbye Pork Pie Hat?
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat has 2 sections (AA) with 24 bars in total.
How fast is Goodbye Pork Pie Hat played?
The usual groove is Ballad.
What are the chord changes to Goodbye Pork Pie Hat?
The opening bars are Eb7#9 B13 | Emaj9 A7#11 | Db9sus B13 | Db9sus Eb7. The full chart above can be transposed to any key.