From the recording Sleeping with Ghost, Vol. 1
“Goodbye Back” is Ryland Fisher at his boldest — a raw, R&B-tinged country track that flips the script on heartbreak. With haunting acoustics and a simmering groove, the song confronts the return of an ex who walked away. Fisher’s restrained fury simmers beneath every lyric, delivering a message as clear as it is cathartic: you don’t get to leave and come back like nothing happened. Honest, haunting, and bitingly relatable, it’s the anthem for anyone who’s ever wanted to say “Not this time.”
Lyrics
Shoulda known you’d show
Like everything’s cool
Like everyone don’t already know
Still whispering baby
Trying to hold my hand
You only want me when you’re all alone
Wanna talk about you and me?
Yeah, I moved on when you walked out the door
Now you want a little sympathy
Well, it’s too late for that
Cus you can't take that goodbye back
So hold onto them photographs
That's where you can find me at
Still holding you
Loving you
Giving a damn
Na, I ain't gonna drive you home
Cus girl, I'd rather sleep alone
Than relive the past
Rewind and relapse
Girl, we don't stand a chance
And you can't take that goodbye back
I’ll be the bad guy
Tell your friends what you want
Don’t make a difference either way
I’ll be sleeping sound
While you’re lying awake
Thinking ‘bout this bed you made
And you’ll be thinking ‘bout you and me
Wishing those were my hands, my arms, my lips
When you got someone between those sheets
It’s gonna hit ya just like that
You can't take that goodbye back
So hold onto them photographs
That's where you can find me at
Still holding you
Loving you
Giving a damn
Na, I ain't gonna drive you home
Cus girl, I'd rather sleep alone
Than relive the past
Rewind and relapse
Girl, we don't stand a chance
And you can't take that goodbye back
Baby
You can't take that goodbye back
Oh yeah
Just like our song
And that first dance
Our first kiss
And all our plans
Every tear, every laugh
No, I can't forget all that
But you can't take that goodbye back
So hold onto them photographs
That's where you can find me at
Still holding you
Loving you
Giving a damn
Na, I ain't gonna drive you home
Cus girl, I'd rather sleep alone
Than relive the past
Rewind and relapse
Girl, we don't stand a chance
You can't take that goodbye back
Baby
You can't take that goodbye back
Oh yeah