"Goodbye Marie"
Single by Bobby Goldsboro
from the album Bobby Goldsboro
B-side"Love Has Made a Woman out of You"
Released1980
GenreCountry
LabelCurb
Songwriter(s)Mel McDaniel
Dennis Linde
Bobby Goldsboro singles chronology
"Black Fool's Gold"
(1979) 		"Goodbye Marie"
(1980) 		"Alice Doesn't Love Here Anymore"
(1981)

"Goodbye Marie" is a country-pop song written by Mel McDaniel and Dennis Linde.[1][2] The song is about a man who has to leave his lover to head for "the lonesome highway" back to his home in Houston, Texas. It was first released by Johnny Rodriguez on his March 1979 album, Rodriguez Was Here.

In September 1979, Kenny Rogers released the song on his album, Kenny. Although the song was not issued as a single at the time, after Kenny Rogers signed to RCA Records his former label, Liberty Records, issued a newly overdubbed version on a Rogers compilation album called Short Stories and as a single in December 1985 that went to #47 in 1986.[3][4]

Bobby Goldsboro took a version of the song to #17 on the Billboard Country chart in December 1980.[5][6]

Mel McDaniel also released the song on his 1981 album, I'm Countryfied, and as the B-side of his single "I Call It Love." Bluegrass group Merle Monroe covered the song for a hit in 2021 with Tim Raybon as lead singer (the group later renamed itself Tim Raybon Band).

Chart performance

Bobby Goldsboro

Chart (1980) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles 17[5]

Kenny Rogers

Chart (1986) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles 47[4]

References

  1. ^ "Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
  2. ^ "Soon McDaniel was signed to a songwriting contract with Combine and he and another Combine writer Dennis Linde wrote Goodbye Marie which was recorded by ..." Hurse, Jack, Country, Chicago Tribune, February 26, 1984
  3. ^ ""Goodbye Marie," the new Liberty release of a cut recorded some years ago by Kenny Rogers, was cowritten by Mel McDaniel. biography of George Jones written ..." Hurst, Jack, Stage fright takes on new meaning when singer moves to TV, Chicago Tribune, February 6, 1986
  4. ^ a b "Hot Country Singles", Billboard, February 15, 1986
  5. ^ a b The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits. pg. 434.
  6. ^ "His other Top 20 country singles include "Muddy Mississippi Line" (1969), "Goodbye Marie" (1980), ...", The comprehensive country music encyclopedia by Country Music Magazine Editors, Times Books, 1994, Pg. 146
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