No genre features truly sad songs like country music does. I don't know if it's the lyrics, the orchestration, the vocals, or a combination of all these elements. These particular sad songs from the 1980s may have slipped your mind and dropped off your playlist of favorites, but they do merit another listen. So on this Christmas Eve Day, while your are rushing about doing your last-minute holiday prep, maybe you can devote a little while to revisiting these heart-breakers. They are from outstanding artists including George Jones, Dolly Parton, Barbara Mandrell, and Patty Loveless.
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'He Stopped Loving Her Today' by George Jones
This 1980 song from Jones' I Am What I Am album usually has the word "great" attached to it by many observers in the know. It was certainly a milestone in his career. Per Songfacts, "This was George Jones' comeback song after years of trouble with the law and addiction. He got a big career boost when it won for Single of the Year at the CMA awards and took a Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performance. CMT named this the second-best country song of all-time."
Interestingly, the song, which describes a forlorn man who loves his ex girlfriend until literally the day he passes away, wasn't one that Jones initially put much faith in. He did change his mind about it, though. In his autobiography via Songfacts, Jones ironically wrote, "...[A] four-decade career was salvaged by a three-minute song."
'Child Support' by Barbara Mandrell
"Child Support" is a 1987 classic story song from Mandrell's album, Sure Feels Good. She sings about an absent man named Joe who is evidently the dad of her young son, Billy. The narrator laments the fact that he has not lived up to his responsibility to pay child support. But she does get "child support" of a very different but equally valuable kind directly from her youngster - his unconditional love, sweetness, and gratitude. This winsome tune would wring tears from a stone. It deserves a place on a 1980s sad songs compilation.
'Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?' by Dolly Parton
From Parton's 1982 Heartbreak Express album, this song tells the story of a lovelorn woman who wonders if the man she adored and lost ever thinks of her anymore. It reminds me in tone and attitude of Faith Hill's rueful tune, "Like We Never Loved At All." Parton infuses songs like this with so much real, relatable emotion but she knows when to pull back before becoming out-and-out maudlin. Sentimental? Yes. Over-the-top? Never. That is why Dolly Parton still reigns supreme as one of the foundational pillars of country music.
'Don't Toss Us Away' by Patty Loveless
In "Don't Toss Us Away," Loveless pleads with the man who has her heart not to callously discard their relationship. Her anguish comes through clearly in each line. Anyone who has endured the miserable crumbling of a relationship will understand the primal power of this song. The group Lone Justice recorded it in 1985; Loveless came along three years after and put it on her Honky Tonk Angel album.
