"Goodbye Little Darlin', Goodbye" (also known as "Goodby Little Darlin") is a song co-written and originally recorded by Gene Autry.[2] Autry sang it in the 1939 movie South of Border,[3][4] and in April 1940 released it on a 78 rpm record.[4]
"Goodbye Little Darlin'" | ||||
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Single by Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two | ||||
A-side | "Goodby Little Darlin'" "You Tell Me" | |||
Released | 1959 (1959) | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Label | Sun 331 | |||
Songwriter(s) | Johnny Marvin, Gene Autry[1] | |||
Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Goodby Little Darlin'" (audio only) on YouTube | ||||
The song would be notably recorded by Johnny Cash.[3][5]
The song was recorded by Cash at Sun Records probably on December 13, 1956,[6] and released as a single (Sun 331, with "You Tell Me" on the opposite side) in September 1959,[7][8][9][10][11][12] when he had already left the label for Columbia.
According to John M. Alexander's book The Man in Song: A Discographic Biography of Johnny Cash, the song wasn't released as a single:
“Goodbye Little Darlin',” which was written by cowboy legend Gene Autry and songwriter Johnny Marvin, was the first Cash song Jack Clement produced. Its haunting beauty reveals a side of Cash not yet realized. His final farewell to a lover who is leaving him is truly heartbreaking. While the song was never released as a single, Cash had faith in it and would rerecord it in 1964 for his I Walk the Line album on Columbia Records. Both versions are impeccable, and either one would have made a worthy single for either label.
— John M. Alexander. The Man in Song: A Discographic Biography of Johnny Cash[2]
Chart (1959) | Peak position |
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US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[13] | 22 |
"Goodbye, Little Darlin', Goodbye" (1940) is a cowboy farewell song that Gene Autry wrote with Johnny Marvin to sing in the movie South of the Border (1937). The rustic piece was recorded by Autry, Dick Robertson, Bing Crosby, Boxcar Willie ...
Goodbye Little You Tell Me Sun 331.
Goodbye Little Darling You Tell Me.
September
Sun records release “You Tell Me”/ “Goodbye, Little Darlin” (Sun 331) and it registers on the country charts for just four weeks with a high of #22.