Everyone loves a good love song, but some of country music’s greatest songs are also about heartbreak. Fortunately for country music, those songs also seem to stand the test of time. We found three country songs from the 1980s about lost love.
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“I Told You So” by Randy Travis
Randy Travis wrote “I Told You So” by himself, releasing it as a single in 1988. The song, on his Always & Forever album, was first on his 1983 Randy Ray: Live at the Nashville Palace record, which he released independently. But when Travis got a record deal, he believed in the song so much, he made it a single, becoming one of his many No. 1 hits.
“I Told You So” says in part, “If I told you that I realize you’re all I ever wanted / And it’s killing me to be so far away / Would you tell me that you love me too / And would we cry together? / Or would you simply laugh at me and say / ‘I told you so, oh, 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 / But now I’ve found somebody new, and you will never break my heart in two again.’”
In 2009, a new version of the song was released, this one with Carrie Underwood.
“The Last One To Know” by Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire’s “The Last One To Know” is the title track of her 1987 studio album. Written by Matraca Berg and Jane Bach, the song is about someone who sees too late that the relationship has already ended.
“Oh, why is the last one to know / The first one to cry and the last to let go,” McEntire sings. “Oh, why is the one left behind / The one left alone with no one to hold / The last one to know.”
“You Look So Good In Love” by George Strait
George Strait had a No. 1 hit with “You Look So Good In Love” in 1983. The song is on his Right or Wrong record. Written by Glen Ballard, Rory Bourke, and Kerry Chater, “You Look So Good In Love” is a heartbreaking song about one person who has moved on, while the other has not.
“You look so good in love / That’s easy to see,” the song says in part. “You look so good in love / I wish you still wanted me.”
One of the biggest hits of Strait’s career, he was initially hesitant to record the song. According to Classic Country Music Stories, Strait didn’t like the recitation in the song. His record producer, Ray Baker, convinced him to try it, making it Strait’s third chart-topping single.
Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images
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