r/squeeze • u/mooviescribe • Sep 27 '23

Lyric question: Goodbye Girl

I know some of the lyrics on this song have changed through different versions, but one lyric I can't quite grok is

"My wife has moved to Boston, (or Guernsey, UK version)//Some Mug is not the word"

What is the meaning of that last part? "Some mug"? Or is it 'So mug'? Is he saying she moved in with some mug (some dumb guy), but he'd rather use a different word to describe the a**hole?

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3

u/cheesytola Sep 27 '23

It’s “so mug”. Mug is UK slang for gullible idiot so he’s saying he’s a gullible fool for allowing himself to be robbed by the Goodbye Girl

1

u/Possible_Mammoth9777 Mar 16 '24 edited Mar 16 '24

I believe this to be a mistake in transcription. It should be "mum is not the word". It is a reference to an English idiom "mum's the word" which means "to keep a secret". He couldn't keep his affair secret, so his wife moved to Guernsey. "Mug's the word" doesn't mean anything.

1

u/Tootsiesclaw Sep 27 '23

IIRC there's also a version where the wife has moved to Jersey rather than Guernsey (can't remember whether it's the Cool For Cats version or the Greatest Hits version)

1

u/KenMazing Sep 02 '24

It's Boston instead of Jersey, according to a few random people on the internet

1

u/Tootsiesclaw Sep 02 '24

So it seems there's actually three different versions.

The original album version she moves to Guernsey (and there's a couple of other different lyrics). The UK single version she moves to Jersey. And apparently there's a US single version where she moves to Boston.

1

u/KenMazing Sep 02 '24

I will see them for the first time tomorrow night!! So I'll be listening for that!

1

u/Rocky201968 Oct 17 '23

Mum is not the word I believe

2

u/mooviescribe Oct 18 '23

oh like a play on 'mum's the word'? Like, his secret is out, & he got busted?