# What's the best goodbye song that's at least a little uplifting? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2002, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-goodbye-song-thats-at-least-a-little-uplifting/129337 "2002-09-23T20:32:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-goodbye-song-thats-at-least-a-little-uplifting/129337/1 "2002-09-23T20:32:24Z")
I was talking with my S.O. and we were talking about this. Anybody have any? So far, my ideas haven’t been the best: Don’t Go-Hothouse Flowers Slide-Gus ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-goodbye-song-thats-at-least-a-little-uplifting/129337/2 "2002-09-23T21:37:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by stpauler \* > \*\*I was talking with my S.O. and we were talking about this. Anybody have any? > So far, my ideas haven’t been the best: > Don’t Go-Hothouse Flowers > Slide-Gus \*\* [So Long, Farewell](http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/2429/sound/10.html) from the Sound of Music ---
**Author:** ![chiefhardcrab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@chiefhardcrab](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiefhardcrab)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-goodbye-song-thats-at-least-a-little-uplifting/129337/3 "2002-09-23T22:33:34Z")
“Goodbye, Good-Lookin’”- Robbie Fulks “The earth sure felt like heaven…for awhile” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Big\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Big\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Big_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2002, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-goodbye-song-thats-at-least-a-little-uplifting/129337/4 "2002-09-23T23:57:52Z")
Unanswered Prayers by Garth Brooks [http://www.planetgarth.com/lyrics/unanswered\_prayers.shtml](http://www.planetgarth.com/lyrics/unanswered_prayers.shtml) She’s Finally over me - by Teddy Pendergrass, can’t find a link. ---
**Author:** ![Ersatz\_Shmoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@Ersatz\_Shmoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ersatz_Shmoe)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-goodbye-song-thats-at-least-a-little-uplifting/129337/5 "2002-09-24T02:05:36Z")
“Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” by Bob Dylan. Probably not what the OP was referring to, but after a particularly drawn out and ugly breakup, it was particularly uplifting for me: “I ain’t sayin’ you treated me unkind/ you coulda done better but I don’t mind/ You just kinda wasted my precious time/ but don’t think twice, it’s alright.” ---
**Author:** ![Scotticher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Scotticher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scotticher)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-goodbye-song-thats-at-least-a-little-uplifting/129337/6 "2002-09-24T02:35:50Z")
“Love Lives On” by Joe Cocker…also, in a slightly different vein…“Letting Go” by Joe Cocker. Yes, I am on a tangent these days, why do you ask? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-goodbye-song-thats-at-least-a-little-uplifting/129337/7 "2002-09-24T02:51:32Z")
“The Dance” by Garth Brooks [What Might Have Been](http://www.lyricscafe.com/l/little_texas/ltexas22.html) by Little Texas [Don’t Happen Twice](http://www.lyricscafe.com/c/chesney_kenny/kc37.html) by Kenny Chesney (Although those two are more “looking back after some time has passed” rather than “saying good-bye” songs) [A Girl’s Gotta Do What a Girl’s Gotta Do](http://www.lyricscafe.com/m/mccready_mindy/mindy05.html) by Mindy McCready Oh, here’s [The Dance](http://www.lyricscafe.com/b/brooks_garth/garth12.html), if you’re interested. Oh, wait. Damn. Can’t believe I forgot this one. [A Better Man](http://www.lyricscafe.com/b/black_clint/cb01.html) by Clint Black ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-goodbye-song-thats-at-least-a-little-uplifting/129337/8 "2002-09-24T03:01:45Z")
**Losin’ You (Might be the Best Thing Yet)** by Jimmy Martin - Edria Humphrey. (Imagine the fiddle here…) "The longest day I live I’ll still be suff’rin’ from the shame. In the gutter you were makin’ yourself quite a name. … I wanted you, you wanted anyone you could get. Losin’ you could be the best thing yet." ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-goodbye-song-thats-at-least-a-little-uplifting/129337/9 "2002-09-24T03:07:29Z")
Damn! For ‘could’, read ‘might’. I even read it over in preview. Maybe I shouldn’t have been singing along. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-goodbye-song-thats-at-least-a-little-uplifting/129337/10 "2002-09-24T04:00:51Z")
Leaving on a jet plane. I don’t know who sings it for real, I have a cover version by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. ---
**Author:** ![StephenG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@StephenG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StephenG)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-goodbye-song-thats-at-least-a-little-uplifting/129337/11 "2002-09-24T04:38:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ElwoodCuse \* > \*\*Leaving on a jet plane. I don’t know who sings it for real, I have a cover version by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. \*\* I believe it was John Denver. [Canadian artist plug]Chantal Kreviazuk[/plug] also sings it excellently, as featured in _Armageddon_.