"Goodbye to Romance" is a song written by

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

Bob Daisley Robert John Daisley (born 13 February 1950) is an Australian musician and songwriter. A bassist, he is perhaps best known for his intermittent relationship with vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, for whom he contributed bass, co-production and songwriti ...

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 albu ...

from Osbourne's 1980 album ''

Blizzard of Ozz ''Blizzard of Ozz'' is the debut studio album by English heavy metal 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 ...

''. A

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

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

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

(or the Canon in D) by composer

Johann Pachelbel Johann Pachelbel (also Bachelbel; baptised – buried 9 March 1706) 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 ...

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 written as his farewell to his former band

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

. 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 Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

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 ( AmE) or crotchet ( BrE) () 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 usually poi ...

s. Heritage also writes that both Pachelbel's Canon and "Goodbye to Romance" use 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 (including fanfare trumpets), French horns or other brass instruments, often accompanied by percussion. It is a "brief improvised introdu ...

-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 killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

would take place, with John Allen, a

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

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

Personnel

– vocals *

– guitars *

– bass guitar *

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

References

Bibliography

* * {{Ozzy Osbourne Songs written by Ozzy Osbourne Songs written by Randy Rhoads Ozzy Osbourne songs 1980 songs Rock ballads Popular songs based on classical music 1980s ballads British soft rock songs