| "Goodbye My Lover" | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by James Blunt | ||||||||||
| from the album Back to Bedlam | ||||||||||
| Released | November 2005 (See release history) |
|||||||||
| Format | CD single | |||||||||
| Recorded | Los Angeles, California | |||||||||
| Genre | Pop rock | |||||||||
| Length | 4:20 | |||||||||
| Label | Atlantic Records/Custard Records | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | S. Skarbek | |||||||||
| Producer | Tom Rothrock Jimmy Hogarth |
|||||||||
| James Blunt singles chronology | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
"Goodbye My Lover" is a pop rock song written by Sacha Skarbek for James Blunt's debut album Back to Bedlam. The song was produced by Tom Rothrock and Jimmy Hogarth and received a positive reception from music critics. It was released as the fourth single in November 2005 and reached the top ten in the United Kingdom, where it became Blunt's second top ten single. It also reached the top ten in Sweden, Australia and France. In the United States, "Goodbye My Lover" had modest success on the Billboard singles chart, where it reached number sixty-six on the Billboard Hot 100 due to digital downloads, even though the single was not yet released in the U.S. The song was formally released in the United States on November 7, 2006.
Contents |
The single was released on three physical formats. CD1 includes an exclusive non-album recording, "Close Your Eyes", which was first written during Blunt's army days. CD2 includes a further non-album recording, "Where Is My Mind" performed live in Manchester, plus the video for "Goodbye My Lover" and behind-the-scenes "Making-Of" footage. The 7" vinyl includes the live version of "Where Is My Mind".[1]
"Goodbye My Lover" featured a music video that was directed by Sam Brown and was filmed on October 28, 2005 in Los Angeles. In the video Blunt is featured sitting in a darkened room by himself, reflecting on a past relationship. In what appears to be the same room, but in daylight, a young woman, Blunt's former lover, is shown having an intimate encounter with another man. The video was shot in the former home of Randolph Scott.[2] The young woman in the video was played by actress Mischa Barton. The young man in the video was played by actor Matt Dallas (Kyle XY).
| Country | Release date |
|---|---|
| Worldwide | November 2005 |
| Canada | November 2006 |
| United States |
In December 2005, "Goodbye My Lover" was released in the United Kingdom. The song became Blunt's second top ten single when it peaked at number nine on the singles chart, and spent a total of fourteen weeks in the top seventy-five. Outside of the UK, the song was also successful. It reached number one in Sweden and became Blunt's second number one on the singles chart. "Goodbye My Lover" was released in Australia in December 2005 and debuted at number eight before ascending the chart to number three, remaining inside the top ten for sixteen weeks, a feat rarely reached in recent years. Due to the favourable reception of Blunt's previous single "You're Beautiful", "Goodbye My Lover" debuted on the United States Billboard Hot 100 singles chart at number hundred, even though it had not been released as a single in the U.S. The single appeared on the chart backed solely on the strength of digital sales after a re-run of an episode of Saturday Night Live that featured Blunt performing the song. It later re-entered the Billboard Hot 100, again due to digital downloads as a result of Blunt's performance of the song on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
| Chart (2005) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| French Top 100 Singles | 6 |
| Chart (2006) | Peak position |
| Australian ARIA Top 50 Singles | 3 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 36 |
| Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart | 2 |
| Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart | 2 |
| Canadian BDS Airplay Chart | 85 |
| Czech IFPI Chart | 4 |
| Danish Singles Chart | 9 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 4 |
| German Singles Chart | 28 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 13 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 19 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 6 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 1 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 19 |
| UK Top 75 Singles | 9 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Singles | 66 |
| U.S. Billboard Pop 100 | 53 |
| U.S. Billboard Top 40 Adult | 17 |
| Preceded by "Right Here, Right Now (My Heart Belongs To You)" by Agnes |
Swedish Singles Chart number-one single 2 February 2006 – 9 February 2006 (1 week) |
Succeeded by "Do What You're Told" by Sebastian |
|
||||||||||||||||||||