It Hurts to Say Goodbye

It Hurts to Say Goodbye

The following song list is for my You Tube Playlist of the same name: It Hurts to Say Goodbye. I didn't have enough characters in the YT description box, so created this post, posting a link in the YT box for those who would appreciate the list.

The following is a list composed of songs from 1983-1984, songs that were either made that year, played that year (either on the radio or by me at home), were hits that year, that I bought that year, or which, in retrospect, remind me of the events of that year.

They tell a story. If 1983-1984 is my most favourite year of all, the one I contunually return to, it is also the saddest of years, the start of a series of wrong-turns that take you ever further away from where you need to be. And one day it dawns on you that there is no way back. Since it's gone, all you can do is let it go. And resist the temptation of inflating what could have been into the fantastical happy ending no-one ever gets.

 All that said.

Pick your favourites 👇

The Lotus Eaters – The First Picture of You

The first picture of summer.

Herman’s Hermits – I’m into something good

Last night I met a new girl in the neighborhood, whoa yeah

Something tells me I'm into something good

Christopher Cross – Arthur’s Theme

Once in your life you find her

Someone that turns your heart around.

The Icicle Works – Love is a Wonderful Colour

Spoke of a girl he viewed like no other.

Donovan – Jennifer, Juniper

Is she pretty? Yes, ever so.

Do you like her? Yes, I do, Sir

Would you love her? Yes, I would, Sir

Cliff Richard – She’s so beautiful

She's all there is to me.

The Lovin’ Spoonful – Do you believe in magic in a young girl's heart?

I'll tell you about the magic, and it'll free your soul

But it's like trying to tell a stranger 'bout rock and roll

Edison Lighthouse – Love Grows, where my Rosemary goes

She's really got a magical spell

And it's working so well

That I can't get away

And I've just got to tell her

That I love her endlessly

Elvis – How the Web was Woven

Like the weave of a spider

Wound around my heart

I'm no longer free

David Cassidy – Morning Rider on the Road

And all at once I meet you and you stop me in my tracks

And the rider on the highway found a home.

Herman’s Hermits – There’s a Kind of Hush

Just the two of us and nobody else in sight.

The Honeybus – Now I know, I can’t let Maggie go.

And I wish that she was mine.

Frank Sinatra – It could happen to you.

Hide your heart from sight. Lock your dreams at night. It could happen to you.

Charles Aznavour - De T’avoir Aimée.

À n’en plus dormir, à n’en plus manger.

Echo and the Bunnymen – Killing Moon

Your lips, a magic world; your sky, all hung with jewels.

Bryan Ferry – More than This

There was no way of knowing.

Prefab Sprout – The World Awake

Chance being a fine thing brought us together,

But we're not magnets well not forever.

It's just a nervous flickering of old flames. Of the child who wished to marry you.

The Toys – A Lovers’ Concerto

Some magic from above

Made this day for us, just to fall in love.

Genesis – That’s All

There’s been no one who makes me feel like you do.

Say we'll be together 'til the end.

Petula Clark – This is My Song

Why is the sky so blue,

Since the hour I met you?

The Casuals – Jesamine

What am I supposed to do

With a girl like Jesamine?

Though my eyes are open wide

She’s made my life a dream.

Lloyd Cole and the Commotions – Are you ready to be heartbroken?

You say you're so happy now.

What would it take to wipe that smile off of your face?

China Crisis – Wishful Thinking

It's just wishful thinking.

Frankie Valli - Can't Take My Eyes Off You 

You’re just too good to be true.

The Tremeloes – Here comes my baby

Never to be mine, no matter how I try.

Shack – I’m not afraid of loving you.

Something conspiring to pull us apart. But torn apart is how it feels.

Wayne Fontana – Pamela, Pamela

But you were young, and everything was new

Impatient to do things you couldn't do

You started to probe, answers to questions you wanted to know.

Eurythmics - Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

Everybody's looking for something.

Prefab Sprout – Cowboy Dreams

I wanna be the guy who wears the white hat

Then rides across the plain

I'm gonna be your enigmatic stranger

Honey you are lookin' at your Shane

I wanna have it written on my tombstone

Here lies the boy who stole your heart

Queen – It's a Hard Life

To trust in one another right from the start.

There's no reason for living with a broken heart.

Whitesnake – Love Hunter

I know what I want.

Matt Monro – More

More than you'll ever know.

The Lovin’ Spoonful – Daydream

And even if time ain't really on my side

Elvis – Twelfth of Never.

Until the twelfth of never I'll still be loving you.

The Turtles – So Happy Together

Imagine me and you, I do

I think about you day and night, it's only right

To think about the girl you love and hold her tight.

Howard Jones – Like to get to know you well

Just want to simply say, won't let you slip away

People want to talk about the future, don't want to linger on the past

Just want to reach to the real you inside.

Mary Hopkin – Temma Harbour

And the way I feel, makes me want to take a chance.

Rainbow - Catch the Rainbow

When evening falls, she'll run to me.

Like whispered dreams, your eyes can see.

Frankie Valli – My Eyes Adored You.

Like a million miles away from me, you couldn't see how I adored you. So close, so close and yet so far.

Dusty Springfield – All I see is you.

The more I try, the more I find, I just can't leave the past behind.

You're there in every dream, I ever dream.

Roy Orbison – In Dreams.

In dreams you’re mine all of the time. We’re together in dreams.

Chris Isaac – Wicked Games

It's strange what desire will make foolish people do

I never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you

And I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you.

No, I don't wanna fall in love (this world is only gonna break your heart)

With you.

Bob Lind – Elusive Butterfly

It's only me pursuing somethin' I'm not sure of.

Procul Harem – A Whiter Shade of Pale

And although my eyes were open, they might just as well have been closed.

Robert Preston – I won’t send roses.

And should I love you, you’d be the last to know.

Billy Joel – Tell Her About It

Listen boy I don't want to see you let a good thing slip away

You know I don't like watching anybody make the same mistakes I made

She's a real nice girl and she's always there for you

But a nice girl wouldn't tell you what you should do

You're a big boy now and you'll never let her go

But that's just the kind of thing she ought to know

When you love someone, you're always insecure

And there's only one good way to reassure

Tell her about it, tell her everything you feel

Give her every reason to accept that you're for real

Tell her about it, tell her all your crazy dreams

Let her know you need her, let her know how much she means.

Andrew Gold – Never Let Her Slip Away

'Cause she's good for me

And it would really make me happy

To never let her slip away.

Simon Dupree – Kites

In letters of gold on a snow white kite

I will write "I love you"

And send it soaring high above you

For all to read

The Johnny Mann Singers – Up, Up and Away

We could float among the stars together, you and I

Rainbow – Rainbow Eyes

Love should be a simple blend, a whispering on the shore.

No clever words you can't defend. They lead to never more.

Marty Balin – Hearts.

Each and every day I think of all the words I never said and all the chances that I had to.

The Move - Blackberry Way

I don't know what to say, she was running away.

Rainbow – I Can't Let You Go

Day after day I keep waking up, to find that you're slipping away.

Tom Robinson – Still Loving You

One day I will lose you and that I know

But sure as hell I'm gonna be yours forever

And till that day I'll still be loving you.

Andy Gibb – Everlasting Love

I was losing you before I ever held you tight.

Vashti Bunyan - I'd Like To Walk Around In Your Mind

I'd like to run and jump on your solitude

You see the end before the beginning has ever begun.

Joe Jackson - Steppin' Out

We are young but getting old before our time.

Gale Garnett – We’ll Sing in the Sunshine

I'll stay with you one year

And I'll be on my way

I'll soon be out of sight.

The Seekers – The Carnival is Over

But the joys of love are fleeting

This will be our last goodbye

I will love you till I die.

Matthew Wilder – Break My Stride

Nobody gonna slow me down. Oh no, I got to keep on moving.

Thin Lizzy – For those who love to live

I've got to get out of town. It's been really nice knowing you. Hope to see you around.

Mary Hopkin – Goodbye

I will leave to go away.

Chicory Tip – Son of My Father

So I left my home I'm really on my own at last

Left the trodden path and separated from the past.

Phil Lynott – Dear Miss Lonely Hearts

That’s how I made my mistake. And I can't forget her.

The Police – King of Pain

But it's my destiny to be the king of pain.

Phil Collins – Against all Odds.

How can I just let you walk away? Just let you leave without a trace.

The Style Council - My Ever Changing Moods

I wish to stay forever … but I'm caught up in a whirlwind.

Thin Lizzy – The Sun Goes Down

She comes and goes, she comes and goes, he knows it all too well.

Fiction Factory – Feels Like Heaven

And then you turn and go.

Phil Lynott - Old Town

I sure miss you honey, now you're not around.

Robert Plant – Big Log

My love is a-miles in awaiting. The eyes that just stare and the glance at the clock.

The Seekers – Georgy Girl

Life is a reality, you can't always run away

It's time for jumping down from the shelf.

Bring out all the love you hide and, oh, what a change there'd be.

Rush – Losing It

Sadder still to watch it die, than never to have known.

Eurythmics– Here Comes the Rain Again

Falling on my head like a memory.

China Crisis – Here Comes a Raincloud

Watching the raincloud, take over me.

Nena – 99 Red Balloons

I think of you, and let it go...

Prefab Sprout – When Love Breaks Down

My love and I, we work well together, but often we're apart.

The things you do, to stop the truth from hurting you.

Danny Wilson – Mary’s Prayer

If you want the fruit to fall, you have to give the tree a shake; if you shake the tree too hard, the bough is gonna break.

Van Halen – Jump

You won't know until you begin.

Wah! – Come Back

Come Back! Don't let time go by.

Paul Young – Come Back and Stay

Since you've been gone, I shut my eyes and I fantasize that you're here with me. Will you ever return?

Love Affair – Everlasting Love

Filled with regret I come back beggin' you

Need you by my side, girl you'll be my bride

You'll never be denied everlasting love

Paul Young – Wherever I Lay my Hat

What do I have to do to make you understand?

Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart (Turn Around)

I get a little bit lonely, and you're never coming round.

Nick Lowe – Stoplight Roses

If you believe your same-old used-to-be will see you through,

You'll last about as long as stoplight roses do.

Petula Clark – Downtown

When you're alone and life is making you lonely

You can always go - downtown.

The Beatles – Penny Lane

In summer, meanwhile back.

Public Image Ltd - (This is Not a) Love Song

Now will I find you? Now will you be there?

The Foundations – Baby, Now that I’ve found you

I can't let you go, I'll build my world around you.

Elvis – Just Pretend

But now I know it was wrong to go

I belong here by your side.

Blue Mink – Stay with me

Stay with me, lay with me, love me for longer than just your goodbye.

I need a friend at the end of a long lonely day.

The Police – I’ll be wrapped around your finger

I can see the destiny you sold, turn into a shining band of gold.

Peter Gabriel – Wallflower

Hold on, you have gambled with your own life.

Big Country – Chance

Because you played chance with a lifetime's romance. And the price was far too long.

Jim Diamond – I Should have known better

I should have known better to take a chance on ever losing you.

Eurythmics - Love Is a Stranger

Love is a danger of a different kind, to take you away and leave you far behind.

Don McLean – It’s just the sun.

It’s just the world that’s gonna break your heart.

It’s just the time we have so little of.

Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes – Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong

In a world few hearts survive.

Peter Gabriel – Here Comes the Flood

Drink up, dreamers. You're running dry.

Roger Whittaker – New World in the Morning

Too many people just stand and wait until the morning.' Don't they know tomorrow never comes.

Spandau Ballet – Gold

These are my salad days, slowly being eaten away.

Flying Pickets - Only You

Came back only yesterday, moving further away. Want you near me.

Vanity Fair – Early in the Mornin’

Tells me that today you're on your way

And you'll be coming home, home to me.

The Monkees – Daydream Believer

Oh, what can it mean

To a daydream believer

And a homecoming queen.

Bobby Darin - Once Upon A Time. 

But somehow once upon a time, never comes again.

Chris Farlowe – Out of time

You’re obsolete. You can't come back, be the first in line.

Charles Trenet - Que reste-t-il de nos amours?

Que reste-t-il de ces beaux jours, de ma jeunesse.

Françoise Hardy – La Maison

Je dis adieu à ce paysage triste. Je ne sais plus de quoi parler.

Genesis – Ripples.

Ripples never come back. They've gone to the other side.

Genesis - Anything She Does

I won't ever, no, I'll never get to hold her

But you know

That in twenty years or more

You'll still look the same

Well, as you do today

You'll still be a young girl

When I'm old and grey

Janis Ian – The other side of the sun.

I'll never stop believing you are the one who can make me laugh and can bring me back from beyond the other side of the sun.

Don McLean - It Doesn't Matter Anymore

Well you go your way and I'll go mine, now and forever till the end of time.

Labbi Siffri – Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying

Lying never did nobody no good, no how, no how. So why am I lying now?

Paul Young - Love of the Common People

Living on a dream ain’t easy, but the closer the knit the tighter the fit.

The Human League - (Keep Feeling) Fascination

Keep feeling fascination, passion burning, love so strong.

Wayne Fontana – Groovy Kind of Love

Any time you want to you can turn me on to

Anything you want to, any time at all.

Rod Stewart - What am I gonna do?

What am I gonna say, if ever you go away?

Howard Jones - New Song

I've been waiting for so long.

Tears For Fears – Change

When it's all too late, it's all too late. Change. You can change.

Status Quo – Where I am

Changes in me, learning to be

Everything that I just silently wanted to see.

The Stranglers - European Female

And do you really fear that you might fall?

Eurythmics - Right By Your Side

I need to be right by your side.

Aztec Camera – All I Need is Everything

I wish myself into your arms to know that all I need is everything.

Crispian St Peters – You were on my mind

When I woke up this morning

You were on my mind.

The Johnny Mann Singers – Invisible Tears

You're back again, so I'll let you in

Although I'm only seein' pictures from the past

Impossible though things may get, improbable I will forget

Indelible memories of sweet, loveable you.

Little Anthony – Tears on my pillow

You don't remember me, but I remember you

'Twas not so long ago, you broke my heart in two.

Skeeter Davies – Sunglasses

Sunglasses to hide, to cry behind, to die behind.

Julian Lennon - Too Late for Goodbyes

And it's much too late for goodbyes.

Snowy White – Bird of Paradise

So you fly away. When will you come again?

Limahl - Never Ending Story

In her face, the mirror of your dreams.

The Seekers – When will the good apples fall

When will I taste the sweet fruits of life?

The Style Council - Long Hot Summer

The long hot summer just passed me by.

Herman’s Hermits – My sentimental friend

We've been so long apart.

Kenny Rankin – Peaceful

And I can wait for fate to bring around to me any part of my tomorrow.

Kings Of Convenience – Misread

The observation that I am doing could

Easily be understood

As cynical demeanor

But one of us misread.

Marillion - Script for a Jester's Tear.

So here I am once more,

In the playground of the broken hearts.

Too late to say I love you

Too late to restage the play

Abandoning the relics

In my playground of yesterday.

The Fortunes – Here it comes again

Now I'm on my own, I walk alone, a heart without a home.

Vanity Fair - Hitchin’ a Ride

Gotta get me home to my baby's side.

Harry Nilsson – Everybody’s Talkin’

Only the echoes of my mind,

I won't let you leave my love behind.

Skeeter Davies – The End of the World

I can't understand, how life goes on the way it does.

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch – Legend of Xanadu

Cursed without hope, was the love that I sought. Lost from the start.

George Michael – Careless Whisper

There’s no comfort in the truth, pain is all you’ll find. I’m never gonna dance again.

Perry Como - Just Out of Reach

Love that runs away from me, dreams that just won't let me be.

Keith West – Excerpt from a Teenage Opera

Count the days into years

Yesterday's laughter turned to tears.

You won't come back, oh no, oh no.

Alvin Stardust - I Feel Like Buddy Holly

All the sad songs take me back to you now that we are apart.

Now I know how Paul McCartney felt when he got up to say:

I wish it was yesterday.

Madness – One Better Day

The feeling of arriving when you've nothing left to lose

He sits while cars pass either side, takes his time

Trying to remember one better day.

Chet Baker – Arrivederci.

Though it’s goodbye forever, let’s pretend. We dared love to catch us and always laughed at romancing.

Dire Straits – Love Over Gold

When the things that you hold can fall and be shattered. Or run through your fingers like dust.

Noel Harrison – The Windmills of Your Mind

Why did summer go so quickly, was it something that you said?

When you knew that it was over you were suddenly aware,

That the autumn leaves were turning to the color of her hair.

Phil Collins – Don’t Let Him Steal Your Heart Away

Tell me what else can I do but say I was wrong?

Neil Sedaka - The Hungry Years

How could I be so blind not to see the door closing on the world I now hunger for? Let's go back to yesterday.

Roy Orbison – In the Real World

When we were dreaming heart to heart, I wish that we had stayed right there.

Jacky – White Horses

Let me ride away to my world of dreams so far away.

Genesis – Entangled.

Sentenced to drift far away now, nothing is quite what it seems.

Sometimes entangled in your own dreams.

Gary Moore – Empty Rooms

Where we learn to live without love (but the days drift on and on).

Nick Lowe - I Read A Lot.

While others are painting the town, you'll find me in a world of fantasy.

Population: one. That's me.

Gordon Lightfoot – If you could read my mind.

And you won't read that book again, because the ending's just too hard to take.

Johnny Rivers – Mountain of Love

Weepin' my heart out till cold gray dawn

Prayin' that you're lonely and you come here too

Hoping just by chance that I'll get a glimpse of you

Wedding bells are ringin' and they shoulda been ours

That's why I'm so lonely, my dreams gone above.

Dusty Springfield – Going Back

Let everyone debate the true reality. I’d rather see the world the way it used to be.

Prefab Sprout – Cars and Girls

What adds up the way it did when we were young?

Dire Straits – Tunnel of Love

Hey girl, it looks so pretty to me. Just like it always did. Like the Spanish City to me, when we were kids.

Christopher Cross – Sailing

And if the wind is right you can find the joy of innocence again.

Scott Walker – Big Louise

Didn’t time sound sweet yesterday? In a world full of friends, you lose your way.

Scott Walker – We’re alone.

We are loyal, you and I, to flowers that are dead. We forget how to cry. We save photos instead. And we find, we’re alone.

David McWilliams – The Days of Pearly Spencer

Old eyes in a small child's face

Watching as the shadows race

Now look your head's bowed in defeat

You walked too far along the street

The race is almost run.

Jackson Browne – The Pretender

Say a prayer for the pretender who started out so young and strong, only to surrender.

Tom Robinson – Listen to the Radio

Atmospherics after dark, noise and voices from the past.

Matt Monro - Once In Every Long and Lonely While.

Fool yourself as time goes by, but then when you believe the lie.

The Ink Spots and Ella Fitzgerald – I’m Making Believe.

I’m making believe that you're in my arms, though I know you're so far away.

Jerry Lee Lewis – The One Rose left in my heart

Each night in dreamland I'm wandering, sweetheart. Telling love's story all anew.

Danny Wilson – Imaginary Girl.

She won’t upset you. She’ll never forget you. Hang on to your dreams. I'll get you one imaginary girl.

Prefab Sprout – The Prisoner of the past.

This ghost is here to stay, I survived the blast. Get ready to pay, I'm taking you at last.

Alison Moyet - What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?

I have only one request of your life. That you spend it all with me.

Scott Walker – The Me I never knew.

Today a new song's playing. The words are simply saying: “From now, I'll be the me, I never knew.”

Sandpipers - Never say Goodbye

Seems sayonara means "Goodbye,"

but no one ever told me why.

Paul McCartney – No More Lonely Nights

May I never miss the thrill of being near you.

George Jones – He stopped loving her today

As the years went slowly by, she still preyed upon his mind.

The Congregation – Softly, Whispering I Love you

Echoes of your voice are calling

Still through my dreams.

Jonathan King – Everyone’s Gone to the Moon

Long time ago, life has begun.

The Applejacks – Tell me When

I'll never fall in love again, as long as there a chance that you'll tell me when.

Chris Montez – The More I see you

The more I see you as years go by

I know the only one for me can only be you.

Johnny Nash – Hold me tight

You were the only girl for me.

Joe Brown – I’ll see you in my dreams

I dream of... lips that once were mine

And those... tender eyes that shine

I know... they'll light my way tonight

When I... see you in my dreams

Scott Walker – I Will Wait for You

If it takes forever

I will wait for you

For a thousand summers

I will wait for you

'Til you're back beside me

Queen - You Take My Breath Away

I will find you anywhere you go ...

Right until the ends of the Earth.

Genesis – Alone Tonight

I call your name but you're going by

Now I'm alone again

Scott Walker – War is Over

Everything still, everything silent. As after the rain. Still we are. After the rain.

The Kinks - Village Green

Although I loved my Daisy, I sought fame. And so I left the village green.

Margo Guryan - Someone I Know

You've been good to me now

And I don't want to go.

Alison Moyet - What are you doing the rest of your life?

The Walker Brothers - First Love Never Dies