Hello Montreal!

Here's a compilation of historic recordings of the prohibition classic 'Goodbye Montreal', mostly dating from 1928 and transferred from 78rpm, one from a wax cylinder and a couple of modern-day remakes.

Montréal was one of the few places in North America where you could still buy alcohol legally during prohibition 1920 - 1933. The city’s unofficial theme song was the 1928 Irving Berlin Co. chart topper “Hello Montréal!”, which summed up the sentiments of thirsty tourists: “Goodbye Broadway, hello Montréal / I’m on my way, I’m on my way / And I’ll make whoop-whoop whoopee night and day!”

Gamblers, racketeers and the world’s greatest entertainers – especially American jazz musicians – flocked to Montréal, notably between the two world wars when Montréal’s Little Burgundy neighbourhood was dubbed the “Harlem of the North.”

Montréal quickly became the nightclub capital of Canada, and her fabled Sin-City era would continue well into the 1950s.

Today, Montréal remains a hotbed of jazz. The city is home to the world’s largest jazz festival as well as live music in the city’s swinging jazz clubs seven nights a week. While Montréal’s Sin City heyday is behind her, Montrealers still love letting the good times roll long after most other cities have rolled up their sidewalks and gone to bed.

Speak easy, Speak easy,
Said Johnny Brown; I’m gonna leave this town, Ev’rything is closing down.
Speak easy, Speak easy,
And tell the bunch: I won’t go East, won’t go West, Got a diff’rent hunch:
I’ll be leaving in the summer, And I won’t come back till fall,
Goodbye Broadway, hello Montreal.
With a stein upon the table, I’ll be laughing at you all,
Goodbye Broadway, hello Montreal. I’m on my way, I’m on my way,
And I’ll make whoop-whoop whoopee night and day.
Anytime my wifey wants me,
You can tell her where to call,
Goodbye Broadway, hello Montreal.
Yamo, yamo, I think I want a drink; Yamo, yamo, there’s water in the sink.
The sink, the sink, the sink, the sink, the sink;
The good old rusty sink;
But who the heck wants water when you’re dying for a drink?
Oh, “We Won’t Get Home Till Morning” Is the best song after all,
Goodbye Broadway, hello Montreal.
There’ll be no more Orange Phosphates,
You can bet your Ingersoll,
Goodbye Broadway, hello Montreal.
That old tin pail, that old tin pail,
Was never meant to carry ginger ale.
There’ll be photographs of brew’ries
All around my bedroom wall,
Goodbye Broadway, hello Montreal.
Speak easy, Speak easy,
Asked Tommy Gray; I must know right away,
Are the gals up there okay?
Speak easy, Speak easy,
Said Johnny Brown;
You ain’t been hugged, ain’t been kissed,
Till you’ve hit that town: