3 Country Songs From 1983 That Still Break My Heart Today

The 1980s had a wide variety of country songs, including happy songs, romantic songs, and more. But the decade also had plenty of heartbreaking tunes, including these three sad country songs. All out in 1983, each of them still breaks my heart today.

“You’re the First Time I’ve Thought About Leaving” by Reba McEntire

Reba McEntire succinctly articulates the pain behind being in a committed relationship while in love with someone else in “You’re the First Time I’ve Thought About Leaving”. The song, written by Dickey Lee and Kerry Chater, is on McEntire’s Unlimited album.

“You’re The First Time I’ve Thought About Leaving” says, “You’re the first time I’ve thought about leaving / And I really don’t know what I’ll do / You’re the first time I’ve thought about leaving him / I’ve never done known someone like you.”

This is McEntire’s second consecutive No. 1 single, after “Can’t Even Get The Blues”, also from Unlimited.

“Holding Her And Loving You” by Earl Thomas Conley

There may not be a sadder song than “Holding Her And Loving You”. A twist on a song about infidelity, “Holding Her And Loving You” is about choosing to stay in a marriage, even though he is in love with another woman.

The chorus of “Holding Her And Loving You” says, “She’s been good to me / When things weren’t going right / She made my days long before you made my nights / So the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do / Is holding her and loving you.”

Walt Aldridge and Tom Brasfield wrote this sad song, which is on Conley’s Don’t Make It Easy For Me record. The song was partly inspired, at least in structure, by Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water”.

“Lady Down On Love” by Alabama

“Lady Down On Love” is a third-person story about a couple who are getting divorced. The No. 1 single, written by Alabama’s Randy Owen, is on the band’s The Closer You Get … record. Sung from the perspective of both the husband and wife, “Lady Down On Love” was inspired by a real-life situation.

“[Randy] was having supper one night and there was a table of girls beside him that were celebrating this lady’s divorce,” Teddy Gentry tells Songfacts. “He heard her say that she’d rather be in love with him and not be getting divorced. So that’s what inspired the song at the time.”

Alabama also had a Top 20 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart with this song.

Photo by Beth Gwinn/Getty Images

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