Produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, who returned from 1983's Punch the Clock, the album was recorded at London's Sarm West Studios in March 1984 during a period of turmoil for the artist.

The cover artwork features Costello and the band on a cliffside against a blue sky, while the title, taken from an obscure 1960s single, was intended as black humour.

The additions of the horns and backing singers, who played on Punch the Clock, to the shows added tensions between Costello and the band, who felt sidelined.

Equipped with an electric piano, guitar and canvas to paint on when he ran out of ideas, he applied "more craft and focus", recording demos of "The Great Unknown", "Worthless Thing" and "Peace in Our Time" at London's Eden Studios.

Although Costello had initially thought of Richard Thompson to produce, Langer and Winstanley ultimately returned following Punch the Clock's commercial performance.

"[5] Several outside musicians guested on the album: Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates sang harmony vocals on "The Only Flame in Town", Green Gartside of Scritti Politti sang backing vocals on "I Wanna Be Loved", trombonist Big Jim Paterson returned from Punch the Clock and Gary Barnacle added saxophone to a few tracks.

[8] In his review of the album for The New York Times, Stephen Holden wrote that it contains "a freewheeling dictionary of pop and rock references that run from Memphis soul to slinky pop-jazz, from Fats Domino to Burt Bacharach to the Beatles.

In his book God's Comic, the biographer David Gouldstone found similar lyrical retreads dating back to 1977's "I'm Not Angry".

[13] With depressing lyrics dealing with marital breakdown,[14] Perone finds it partly autobiographical, appearing to relate to Costello's own failing marriage.

[16] With "sinister" organ, "smoky" saxophone,[13] and a bass riff that mirrors the Beatles' "I'm Only Sleeping" (1966),[14] some reviewers on release compared it to 1977's "Watching the Detectives".

[8][14] The final track, "Peace in Our Time", is a waltz ballad that presents political commentary, in part a reaction against Thatcherism and Reaganomics.

[8][13] On release, Holden found references to "German disco, nuclear testing, the Falklands War, space exploration and Ronald Reagan".

Analysing the slightly oft-centred photograph, Hinton believes it has "an unsettling background of pure sky, as if the whole hillock is ascending to heaven.

"[4] Supported by T Bone Burnett, Costello played stripped-down versions of Goodbye Cruel World tracks, his back catalogue and several covers he had yet to record.

"[17] Backed by a rendition of Richard and Linda Thompson's folk song "Withered and Died" (1973),[2][10] the single reached number 48 in the UK.

[18][19] Melody Maker named it their single of the week,[17] and Costello performed it on NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in the US; the artist remembered being belittled by the studio audience.

[6] In the 2004 liner notes, he recalled being banned from the BBC's Top of the Pops during a performance of the single after Pete Thomas mimed to a drum fill on his head, revealing they were not actually playing live.

Several Goodbye Cruel World tracks were played to promote the record and the shows attempted to recreate the album's production to waning effect.

[32] Some negatively compared the arrangements to Costello's recent solo tour;[36][34] Creem's Mitchell Cohen particularly criticised them on the record as being "so errant from the thrust of the material".

In a five-star review for Record Mirror, Eleanor Levy described it as "a bitter-sweet album", one that is "laced perfectly with Costello's inevitable humour", and is the artist at "his most biting, musically and lyrically".

"[15] Hot Press's Declan Lynch highlighted the writing and playing as "accurate, scathing, melancholic and touching", ultimately calling the record further proof of the artist being "an immaculate songwriter, with a conscience".

[37] Comparing Goodbye Cruel World to Punch the Clock, Sounds magazine's Jay Williams described the former as more subdued but "retains all the hallmarks, all the catchlines, the bittersweet asides and the emotional intricacies which have come to characterise his work".

[9] Critic Robert Christgau of The Village Voice deemed Goodbye Cruel World "another solid if unspectacular effort" from the artist.

[31] In The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll for the year's best albums, Goodbye Cruel World placed at number 70, Costello's worst placement up to that point.

[e] Erlewine argued that tracks like "The Only Flame in Town" and "I Wanna Be Loved" benefit from the production, while most of the album's finest songs—"Room with No Number", "The Comedians", "Sour Milk-Cow Blues" and "Peace in Our Time"—all necessitate stripped-down arrangements.

[51] In 2021, writers for Stereogum felt there were overlooked moments of "brilliance" in tracks like "The Deportees Club" and "Peace in Our Time", but ultimately stated the record was "Costello as his most incongruent in terms of sound and vision".

[48] A year later, Spin's Al Shipley believed the record was "more pleasant than its reputation suggests", but nevertheless felt it lacks the personality to attract even Costello's most die-hard fans.

[2] In his 2004 biography of the artist, Thomson states: "Some albums that meet with critical dismay upon their release are later hailed as lost, overlooked gems, but Goodbye Cruel World will never be one of them.

"[6] Stripped of the glossy Clive Langer/Alan Winstanley production and given spare, direct arrangements, the songs sound stark and moody, altogether stronger than they did on the finished album.

[53] Costello himself stated in the reissue's liner notes that "it is pretty clear that I cannibalised most of this material to complete the lyrics that appear on the main record.