British rock band Supertramp’s ‘Goodbye Stranger’ was that first song playing on the new season of the action crime series Reacher as the titular man is at a thrift store handing in his old clothes for a trade-in, and buying new clothes to wear on the road — Reacher, Season 2, Episode 1, “ATM“.
Reacher than heads to an ATM to get money, where he sees a woman who has obviously been carjacked, so he solves her problem for her by knocking out the carjacker and saving her son.
He then goes back into the thrift shop to pay for his clothes, where ‘Goodbye Stranger‘ is still playing.
The song continues to play as he calls Neagley who tells him he needs to come to New York as Calvin Franz has been murdered.
When was Supertramp’s ‘Goodbye Stranger‘ first released?
The now-hit song was first released in 1979 by the British band as the second single from their sixth studio album, Breakfast in America.
Supertramp’s ‘Goodbye Stranger‘ came out in the UK in July of that year, and then was released in the United States in October.
Interestingly, the song was not that successful in the United Kingdom, only making it to #57 on the UK Singles chart, but when released in America and elsewhere it became a much bigger hit.
In the U.S., ‘Goodbye Stranger‘ charted high up three different charts, with its best placement at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The upbeat pop song also ranked high on charts in New Zealand, the Netherlands, France and Canada, and has been named by several critics as one of the best songs the British rock band released.
Several also pointed out Roger Hodgson’s guitar solo as one of the best ever recorded.
Listen to Supertramp’s ‘Goodbye Stranger‘ as heard on the new season of Reacher in the video, and on the band’s Breakfast in America album via Spotify.
The band itself was in existence from 1970 to 2015, although with many different line-ups, and only Rick Davies the band’s founder, lead singer and keyboardist its constant member.