If there is ever a genre that has songs about saying goodbye, it’s country music. But especially in the 1980s, some of the best and most tragic songs about saying goodbye came out. Included in the list are these three country songs, which remind us all about the heartache of a final farewell.
“The Sound Of Goodbye” by Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle released “The Sound Of Goodbye” in 1983. The song was written by Hugh Prestwood. It became a No. 1 country hit and a Top 10 at pop radio as well. It appears on Gayle’s Cage The Songbird record.
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“The Sound Of Goodbye” says, “We can talk of the weather / We can talk of the news / We can talk of the talk of the town / There’s another true love going down / We can talk about promises, talk about lies / But there’s no use pointing our fingers / And the sound of ‘I love you’ still lingers / But it rings with the sound of goodbye.”
“Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground” by Willie Nelson
“Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground” was written solely by Willie Nelson. The song is about losing someone who was once close, although Nelson intentionally leaves the meaning a bit ambiguous. The song is part of the soundtrack for Honeysuckle Rose.
“A lot of people have taken it and applied it to their own situation,” Nelson explains. “You could relate it to someone who has died, love affairs, or whatever. … It has a lot of different meanings to a lot of different people who have no idea why I wrote that song.”
“Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground” says, “So fly on, fly on past, the speed of sound / I’d rather see you up than see you down / So leave me if you need to, I will still remember / Angel flying too close to the ground / Leave me if you need to, I will still remember / Angel flying too close to the ground.”
“I Told You So” by Randy Travis
Perhaps nothing is more painful than being the one who caused a painful split, only to live with the regret of that decision later. It’s what Randy Travis so eloquently sings about in “I Told You So”. On his Always & Forever album, Travis is the sole writer of “I Told You So”.
The sad song says, “If I told you that I realized you’re all I ever wanted / And it’s killing me to be so far away / Would you tell my that you love me too / And would we cry together / Or would you simply laugh at me and say / I told you so, I told you so / I told you some day you’d come crawling back / And asking me to take you in / I told you so, but you had to go / Now I’ve found somebody new / And you will never break my heart in two again.”
Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images
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CIRCA 1975: Country musician Waylon Jennings performs onstage in circa 1975. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) -
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CIRCA 1959: Country singer Kitty Wells poses for a portrait holding an acoustic guitar in circa 1959. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
