"Goodbye to You" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter

Michelle Branch Michelle Jacquet DeSevren Branch (born July 2, 1983) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. During the early 2000s, she released two top-selling albums: '' The Spirit Room'' and '' Hotel Paper.'' She won a Grammy Award for Best Pop C ...

for her debut studio album, ''

The Spirit Room ''The Spirit Room'' is the major-label debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Michelle Branch, released by the Maverick Recording Company and Warner Bros. Records in the United States on August 14, 2001. The album was recorded at Suns ...

'' (2001). It was released by

Maverick Records Maverick was an American entertainment company founded in 1992 by Madonna, Frederick DeMann, and Veronica "Ronnie" Dashev, and formerly owned and operated by Warner Music Group. It included a record label (Maverick Records), a film production ...

as the album's third and final single on July 8, 2002. The song reached number 21 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 32 in New Zealand.

Composition

"Goodbye to You" is 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 ...

written solely by Michelle Branch about the feeling of breaking up. It was first recorded for her debut album, ''Broken Bracelet'', and was later re-recorded for inclusion on her follow-up and major-label debut, ''

''. The latter recording was produced by

John Shanks John Matthew Shanks (born December 18, 1964) is an American songwriter, record producer and guitarist. Early life and education John Matthew Shanks was born in New York City. Shanks moved to Los Angeles when he was 17 years old. He was in a ban ...

and was described by ''

Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

'' as a "rousing

torch song A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affect ...

." For its commercial release as a radio

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, "Goodbye to You" was remixed by

Chris Lord-Alge Chris Lord-Alge is an American mix engineer. He is the brother of both Tom Lord-Alge and Jeff Lord-Alge, both of whom are also audio engineers. Chris and Tom are known for their abundant use of dynamic compression for molding mixes that play wel ...

. According to the digital sheet music published by Alfred Publishing Co., Inc., the song was composed in the key of A major and is set in

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note val ...

to a moderately slow

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

of 80 beats per minute.

Chart performance

"Goodbye to You" peaked at number 21 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on the week ending October 26, 2002. The song stayed on the charts for 20 weeks. The song became Branch's third top-40 hit.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

depicts Branch at a beach in her car, driving away from her troubles, and singing towards the ocean. It was directed by

Francis Lawrence Francis Lawrence (born March 26, 1971) is an Austrian-born American filmmaker and producer. After establishing himself as a director of music videos and commercials, Lawrence made his feature-length directorial debut with the superhero thrille ...

. The video's story is set in reverse and Branch has said that the format is supposed to emulate the 2000 film '' Memento''.

Track listing

German CD single # "Goodbye to You" (radio remix) – 3:48 # " Everywhere" (acoustic version) – 3:36

Credits and personnel

Credits are lifted from ''The Spirit Room'' album booklet. Studios * Recorded at

Sunset Sound Sunset, also known as sundown, is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon due to Earth's rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth (except the North and South poles), the equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the sprin ...

Henson Recording Studios The Jim Henson Company Lot, formerly A&M Studios, is a studio property located just south of the southeast corner of North La Brea Avenue and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Originally established by film star Charlie Chaplin, the property served ...

, and Ananda Studios (Hollywood, California) * Mixed at

Westlake Audio Westlake Recording Studios is a music recording studio in West Hollywood, California. History Westlake Recording Studios was founded in the early 1970s by the American audio engineer Tom Hidley under the name Westlake Audio. Hidley was experi ...

(Los Angeles) * Mastered at Marcussen Mastering (Los Angeles) Personnel * Michelle Branch – writing, guitars, keyboards * John Shanks – guitars, bass, keyboards, programming, production *

Patrick Warren Patrick Warren (born March 26, 1957) is an American musician, composer, and record producer. He is known for his work on the films ''Magnolia'', ''Fifty Shades of Grey'', '' Boogie Nights'' and ''Red State'', as well as the television series ' ...

– keyboards *

Kenny Aronoff Kenny Aronoff (born March 7, 1953) is an American session drummer. Early life Aronoff grew up in Stockbridge, Massachusetts He developed an interest in music at an early age and gravitated to the drums as "drumming was one hundred percent ener ...

– drums *

Vinnie Colaiuta Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the '' Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 2014. Cola ...

– drums * Lars Fox – programming, engineering,

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture ( sound design, audio post-produ ...

editing * Marc DeSisto – mixing, engineering *

Stephen Marcussen Stephen Marcussen is the founder and chief mastering engineer at Marcussen Mastering in Hollywood, California, United States. He has been mastering music since 1979. Biography Marcussen's introduction to music recording happened in 1976 when, at ...

– mastering

Charts

In popular culture

* In 2001, Branch appeared in the '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' episode "

Tabula Rasa ''Tabula rasa'' (; "blank slate") is the theory that individuals are born without built-in mental content, and therefore all knowledge comes from experience or perception. Epistemological proponents of ''tabula rasa'' disagree with the doctri ...

", singing "Goodbye to You" in the Bronze at the conclusion of the episode and the song was also heard in the promos for Season 7. * She also appeared on '' Charmed'' also performing "Goodbye to You" at Piper Haliwell's club P3 in the 2003 episode "Centennial Charmed". * The song was used in a 2004 episode of MTV's '' Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County''. * In 2009 the song was used as a final dance song for the couples eliminated from America's version of '' Dancing with the Stars''. * On the series finale of '' The Hills'', the song was featured in a montage showcasing the turbulent romance of Justin Bobby and

Audrina Patridge Audrina Cathleen Patridge is an American television personality, model and actress. In 2006, she rose to prominence after being cast in the reality television series '' The Hills'', which chronicled the personal and professional lives of Patridge ...

. * In May 2016, Branch performed "Goodbye Ted Cruz," a reworking of the song, on ''

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee ''Full Frontal with Samantha Bee'' is an American late-night talk and news satire television program that aired on TBS from 2016 to 2022. The show was hosted by comedian Samantha Bee, a former correspondent on ''The Daily Show''. In July 202 ...

'', in order to commemorate

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...

's dropping out of the 2016 presidential race.

References

{{Authority control 2000s ballads 2002 singles Maverick Records singles Michelle Branch songs Music videos directed by Francis Lawrence Song recordings produced by John Shanks Songs written by Michelle Branch Torch songs