"It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" is an R&B song written by

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

husband-and-wife songwriting team Freddie Perren and Christine Yarian for the 1975 film '' Cooley High''. In the film, the song is performed by Motown artist G.C. Cameron, whose rendition peaked at number 38 on the ''Billboard'' R&B singles chart that same year. Perren also composed the instrumental score for ''Cooley High'', and the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

to "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" features two of his score compositions from the film.

Boyz II Men cover

The

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music Music genre, genre, originating from African Americans, African-American musicians in the 1980s that combines rhythm and blues with elements of Pop music, pop, Soul music, soul, funk, Hip-hop, ...

Motown group

Boyz II Men Boyz II Men ( ) is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. Formed in 1985, they have been a trio composed of baritone Nathan Morris, tenor Wanya Morris, Wanyá Mo ...

recorded the song in an

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

rendition 16 years later. Released as a single, Boyz II Men's recording peaked at number two on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and reached number one on the Hot R&B Singles chart in December 1991. The track was included on Boyz II Men's first album, '' Cooleyhighharmony'', its name a reference to the film from which the song originated. The music video for the song is dedicated to rapper MC Trouble, who died a few months after the album's release, and it featured archive footage of

Sarah Vaughan Sarah Lois Vaughan (, March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer and pianist. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "List of nicknames of jazz musicians, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, actor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well known for creating ''Fraggle Rock'' ( ...

, Sammy Davis Jr. and

Gilda Radner Gilda Susan Radner (June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989) was an American actress and comedian. She was one of the seven Saturday Night Live cast members, original cast members of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy series ...

, and several others who had died recently. The song was used in the 1992 action film ''

Lethal Weapon 3 ''Lethal Weapon 3'' is a 1992 American buddy cop action film directed by Richard Donner and written by Jeffrey Boam and Robert Mark Kamen. The sequel to ''Lethal Weapon 2'' (1989), it is the third installment in the ''Lethal Weapon'' film se ...

'', in the funeral scene for Daryl, a 15-year-old gangbanger shot down by Murtaugh.

Track listings

US cassette single *A It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday (LP Version) * Album Snippets *B1 Under Pressure *B2 Please Don't Go *B3 Lonely Heart *B4 Uhh Ahh *B5 It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday Europe Maxi-CD # It's Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday (Radio Version) 3:06 # It's Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday (A capella Version) 3:49 # Album Snippets *3a Under Pressure 0:48 *3b Please Don't Go 1:00 *3c Lonely Heart 1:00 *3d Uhh Ahh 1:03

Charts and certifications

G.C. Cameron version

Boyz II Men version

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Other versions

The Flex covered "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" for the ''House Party 2'' soundtrack album, released in October 1991. A Cantonese version of "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" was covered by

Jacky Cheung Jacky Cheung Hok-yau (born 10 July 1961) is a Hong Kong singer and actor. One of the most influential artists in the Greater China region, Cheung is widely regarded as a Heavenly King of Cantopop music and an icon of Hong Kong popular culture. He ...

. The song is titled "偷閒加油站" and it is featured on the 1992 album 真情流露. In

Lucifer The most common meaning for Lucifer in English is as a name for the Devil in Christian theology. He appeared in the King James Version of the Bible in Isaiah and before that in the Vulgate (the late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bib ...

series 5 episode 15, a version is sung by Ella Lopez (

Aimee Garcia Aimee Sandimés Garcia López de Ordóñez (born November 28, 1978) is an American actress. She is known for her television roles as Veronica Palmero on the ABC sitcom '' George Lopez'' (2006–2007), Jamie Batista on the Showtime drama '' D ...

) and

Lucifer Morningstar Lucifer (DC Comics), Lucifer Morningstar is a DC Comics character, an adaptation of Lucifer—the Biblical fallen angel and devil of Christianity. Lucifer Morningstar may also refer to: DC Comics * Lucifer Morningstar (Constantine), Lucifer Morni ...

( Tom Ellis). It begins with Ella singing in Spanish before Lucifer joins in and they continue in English. Latin pop group Barrio Boyzz performed the song acapella in Spanish at the Premio Lo Nuestro awards in May 1995 in honor of the late Tejano singer Selena, who was murdered two months prior.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday 1975 singles 1991 singles Motown singles A cappella songs Boyz II Men songs Cashbox number-one singles Songs written by Freddie Perren Songs written for films Song recordings produced by Freddie Perren 1975 songs Songs about nostalgia Songs about parting Cultural depictions of Sammy Davis Jr.