What is the source of the line, “Goofus has been lucky for me”?

“Goofus” was written by Wayne King and William Harris (music) and Gus Kahn (lyrics). As performed by Phil Harris, the song explained, “I made up tunes on the sounds that I used to hear. I'd start to play, folks used to say, ‘Sounds a little goofus to me.” At the end of the song, Harris sang, “I must admit, we made a hit. Goofus has been lucky for me.”

The song was popular in the 1930’s, and the 1950 version recorded by legendary guitarist Les Paul made it to number 29 on the Billboard charts. Harris’ version was released later that year, Chet Atkins included the song on his 1960 album, “Chet Atkins’ Workshop”.

In 1976, the Carpenters—siblings Karen (vocals) and Richard (keyboard, composition) tried to make the song popular once again, recording a version for their “A Kind of Hush” album, and they also released “Goofus” as a single. The song reached the number 4 spot on the Billboard Easy Listening chart, placed 56 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, and came in at number 83 on the Canadian Singles Chart. This version did not include Harris’ final two lines.