Goodbye Time

Infobox Single
Name = Goodbye Time


Cover size =
Caption =
Artist = Conway Twitty
from Album = Still in Your Dreams
Released = 1988
Format = Single
Recorded =
Genre = Country
Length = 3:25
Label = MCA
Writer = James Dean Hicks
Roger Murrah
Producer = Jimmy Bowen
Dee Henry
Conway Twitty
Last single = "That's My Job"
(1987)
This single = "Goodbye Time"
(1988)
Next single = "Saturday Night Special"
(1988)Infobox Single
Name = Goodbye Time


Cover size =
Caption =
Artist = Blake Shelton
from Album = Blake Shelton's Barn & Grill
Released = 2005
Format = CD single
Recorded =
Genre = Country
Length = 3:23
Label = Warner Bros.
Producer = Bobby Braddock
Last single = "Some Beach"
(2004)
This single = "Goodbye Time"
(2005)
Next single = "Nobody but Me"
(2005)"Goodbye Time" is a single by American country music singer Conway Twitty that reached #7 on the "Billboard" Hot Country Songs chart. It was the first single from Twitty's 1988 album "Still in Your Dreams", and it features Vince Gill on background vocals.cite journal |last=Salonica |first=Kelly |date=2005-11-07 |title=Story Behind the Song |journal=Country Weekly |volume=12 |issue=23 |pages=70 |accessdate=2008-07-09]

In 2004, a cover was recorded by country music artist Blake Shelton on his album "Blake Shelton's Barn & Grill". This cover was issued in early 2005 as that album's third single, and by mid-2005, it became the fourth Top Ten hit of Shelton's career, peaking at #10 on the country charts and #73 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Content

"Goodbye Time" is a ballad in which the narrator addresses a former lover, attempting to keep her from leaving him. Ultimately, he tells her that "if the feeling's gone / Words won't stop you anyway". In the chorus, he adds that "if it's too late for love to change your mind / Then it's goodbye time".

History

James Dean Hicks and Roger Murrah were inspired to write "Goodbye Time" while Hicks's brother was going through a divorce. According to Hicks, his brother was "holding on to something that wasa already gone", and his situation inspired Hicks and Murrah to write the song. Murrah pointed out that the two "just started playing music and singing lyrics", and the song came together.

Initially, the two songwriters had planned for Reba McEntire to record "Goodbye Time". However, McEntire felt that she could not sing the song, as she, too, had been going through a divorce at the time, and she felt that several of the song's lyrics matched what her ex-husband had told her when they split. The song was then pitched to Conway Twitty, who recorded it on his 1988 album "Still in Your Dreams", from which it was released as that album's first single, peaking at #7 on the country charts that year.

Sixteen years after Twitty's rendition, Blake Shelton recorded "Goodbye Time" for his third studio album, 2004's "Blake Shelton's Barn & Grill", having been inspired to record the song after hearing it on a television special about Twitty. Shelton's rendition of the song was issued in early 2005 as that album's third single, reaching a peak of #10 on the country charts that year. Murrah felt positively of Shelton's rendition, stating that Shelton " [made] the song his own".

Chart positions

Conway Twitty

Blake Shelton

References