Goodbye Pork Pie Hat is a jazz instrumental composed by Charles Mingus in 1959. It was recorded by his sextet for the album Mingus Ah Um and released that year on Columbia Records, produced by Teo Macero. Mingus wrote it as an elegy for Lester Young, who died two months before the recording and was famous for his pork pie hats. The piece became a jazz standard and has been covered by many artists; Mingus later re issued it as Theme for Lester Young on Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus (1963) and again on Three or Four Shades of Blues (1977). Lyrics were added later by Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Joni Mitchell, among others, but the original recording is a sparse instrumental ballad renowned for its emotional depth.
