"How Can I Help You Say Goodbye" is a song written by Karen Taylor-Good and Burton Banks Collins. It was first recorded by Patty Loveless for her 1993 album Only What I Feel and released in March 1994 as the fourth single. A version by Laura Branigan was released later the same year on her final studio album Over My Heart, also being released as a single. The song was later included on Branigan's 1995 greatest hits album The Best of Branigan.
In the three verses, the narrator describes with florid imagery three experiences of loss in her life: moving away from her best friend as a young girl, separating from her husband as an adult, and her mother's death. Each time, in the repeating chorus, her mother seeks to comfort her, asking "how can I help you to say goodbye?"
Background
Loveless' album, "Only What I Feel" had sold over 650,000 copies and had been certified as an RIAA Gold Album. Sony/Epic was receiving requests from radio stations that this song be released as a single, and in March 1994 it was released. This song climbed up the charts, reaching #3 in June. It was also nominated for the 1995 Grammy Awards for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song. The accompanying video was also nominated by both the CMA and the ACM as 1995 Video Of The Year.
Burton Collins, who was an actor at the time, had never written a song before "How Can I Help You Say Goodbye". He told Country Weekly that the title was spoken to him by his grandmother shortly before her death in 1988. After being introduced to Karen Taylor-Good by a mutual friend, he wrote the song with her. Collins said that he and Taylor-Good wrote the song in three hours.[1]
Critical reception
Patty Loveless version
Larry Flick from Billboard wrote that "as she's proven time and time again, Loveless has no equal when it comes to caressing a country lyric. Put her together with a killer ballad like this, and you've got something truly special. A broken heart never sounded so good."[2] Alanna Nash from Entertainment Weekly stated that Loveless "reaches her artistic zenith on the soul-rattling ballads", noting "the enormously involving" "How Can I Help You Say Goodbye".[3]
Laura Branigan version
After Laura Branigan released her version, Larry Flick from Billboard wrote, "Hands down, the most memorable moment from Branigan's 1993 album, "Over My Heart", finally gets a shot at radio play. Branigan has rarely packed this kind of emotional punch without raising her voice above a melancholy tone. A tear jerking exploration of death and loss deserves instant acceptance from adult contemporary programmers."[4]Chuck Eddy from Entertainment Weekly said, "Nowadays, Branigan is beating Celine Dion at Dion’s own game", adding that "she’s still rending hearts, especially when she remembers the day her family moved away from her best friend in a ’59 station wagon."[5]Gavin Report commented, "If there's still such a thing as a "woman's song" this would certainly qualify." The reviewer stated that Branigan "takes it to heart with a delicate production that's unique to the format and to the moment."[6]
