"So Long Eric" was written as part of Mingus’ continuing argument with Eric Dolphy about his decision to leave Mingus’ group and stay in Europe after their 1964 tour, due to the deteriorating race relations in the US (as discussed in Mingus’ intros to Meditations on a Pair of Wire Cutters, a mainstay on their 1964 tour.)

Other versions are named “Hope So Eric” or have the additional subtitle of “Don’t Stay Over There Too Long.”

Eric Dolphy’s death a two months later of diabetic shock gives the title an additional sad resonance. Mingus had a son with Judy born July 8, and they named him Eric.

In the liner notes to Dolphy’s Last Date, Charles Mingus is quoted, "usually, when a man dies, you remember—or you say you remember—only the good things about him. With Eric, that's all you could remember. I don't remember any drags he did to anybody. The man was absolutely without a need to hurt.”

Eric Allan Dolphy Jr. (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964)