"Goodbye to Romance" is a song written by

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...

Bob Daisley Robert John Daisley (born 13 February 1950) is a retired Australian bass guitarist. He has collaborated on several occasions with Ozzy Osbourne, for whom he contributed bass, backing vocals, co-production and songwriting. He has also worked wi ...

and

Randy Rhoads Randall William Rhoads (December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982) was an American guitarist. He was the co-founder and original guitarist of the heavy metal band Quiet Riot, and the guitarist and co-songwriter for Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo alb ...

from Osbourne's 1980 album ''

Blizzard of Ozz ''Blizzard of Ozz'' is the debut solo studio album by English singer Ozzy Osbourne, released on 12 September 1980 in the UK and on 27 March 1981 in the US. The album was Osbourne's first release following his firing from Black Sabbath in 1979. ...

''. A

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

, the song has been characterized as influenced by the chord progressions of

Pachelbel's Canon Pachelbel's Canon (also known as the Canon in D, P 37) is an accompanied canon by the German Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel. The canon was originally scored for three violins and basso continuo and paired with a gigue, known as ''Canon and G ...

(or the Canon in D) by composer

Johann Pachelbel Johann Pachelbel (baptised – buried 9 March 1706; also Bachelbel) was a German composer, organist, and teacher who brought the south German organ schools to their peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secularity, secular music, and h ...

Background and lyrics

"Goodbye to Romance" was the first track written for ''Blizzard of Ozz'', and the first song that Osbourne and guitarist

completed together. Osbourne has said that the song was his way of saying farewell to his former band

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

. The lyrics of "Goodbye to Romance" express mourning over a love being lost. Though the song's initial verses communicate the sorrow of the protagonist, the third verse onward sees the protagonist speaking of leaving their past behind, and looking optimistically towards their future.

Composition and arrangement

Rhoads's chord progressions in "Goodbye to Romance" have been classified as an adaptation of the progressions found in

(also known as the Canon in D) by

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

composer

. Author Gareth Heritage identifies the introductory guitar motif in "Goodbye to Romance" as "closely esemblingthe first motivic development" of Pachelbel's Canon, and points to the similarities between "the stepwise melodic contour and accompanying bass countermelody" in both compositions. The countermelody in "Goodbye of Romance" contains the same notes as the countermelody in Pachelbel's Canon, in the form of four descending bass guitar minims rather than four descending violin

crotchet A quarter note (American) or crotchet ( ) (British) is a musical note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note (or semibreve). Quarter notes are notated with a filled-in oval note head and a straight, flagless stem. The stem u ...

s. Heritage also writes that both Pachelbel's Canon and "Goodbye to Romance" utilize a progression of eight chords in D major, though the former "has a stronger sense of being in major key ..whereas the tonality for 'Goodbye to Romance' is stylistically nuanced to reflect the melancholic qualities of a rock ballad." The harmony of "Goodbye to Romance" features slight deviations from that of Pachelbel's Canon, including "modifying the I-V (D-A) chord change in bars 1 and 2 with an I-iii (D F#m) chord change in bars 1 and 2 of the verse", with the resulting effect, Heritage argues, better suits "the melancholic subtext of the accompanying lyrics." The outro melody of "Goodbye to Romance" features a

fanfare A fanfare (or fanfarade or flourish) is a short musical flourish which is typically played by trumpets, French horns or other brass instruments, often accompanied by percussion. It is a "brief improvised introduction to an instrumental perfo ...

-style motif played using a synthesized trumpet.

Live performances

During the '' Diary of a Madman'' tour that began in late 1981 and continued into 1982, Osbourne and his band performed "Goodbye to Romance" live; around halfway through the song, a staged

execution by hanging Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...

would take place, with John Allen, a

dwarf Dwarf or dwarves may refer to: Common uses *Dwarf (folklore), a being from Germanic mythology and folklore * Dwarf, a person or animal with dwarfism Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a humanoid ...

, being suspended in the air with a fake noose around his neck.

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

Lee Kerslake Lee Gary Kerslake (16 April 1947– 19 September 2020) was an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer and backing vocalist for the rock band Uriah Heep and for his work with Ozzy Osbourne in the early 1980s. Biography Early life a ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

References

Bibliography

* * {{Ozzy Osbourne Songs written by Ozzy Osbourne Songs written by Randy Rhoads Ozzy Osbourne songs 1980 songs Rock ballads