Goodbye Pork Pie Hat

[2] Mingus wrote it as an elegy for saxophonist Lester Young, who had died two months prior to the recording session[3] and who was known for wearing unusually broad-brimmed pork pie hats.

[citation needed] Hooker's lyrics differ radically from those in earlier versions in that they address the experience of domestic abuse, perpetrated by a man who wears a pork pie hat, rather than celebrating the life and music of Lester Young in the manner favored by Kirk and Mitchell.

An early indication of the song's cross-genre appeal came in 1966, when it was recorded by the British folk guitar duo, Bert Jansch and John Renbourn.

When Jansch and Renbourn formed Pentangle the next year, a group arrangement of the song became a fixture in their set, and a version recorded live at the Royal Festival Hall in London was released on Sweet Child in 1968.

[citation needed] Though Pentangle included a lead vocalist and three of the four instrumentalists also sang, no attempt was made to add lyrics or scat.