"It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" is an R&B song written by American Motown husband-and-wife songwriting team Freddie Perren and Christine Yarian for the 1975 film Cooley High. In the film, the song is performed by Motown artist G. C. Cameron, whose rendition peaked at number 38 on the US Billboard R&B singles chart that same year. Perren also composed the instrumental score for Cooley High, and the B-side to "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" features two of his score compositions from the film.
Charts Chart (1975)PeakpositionUS Hot Soul Singles (Billboard) 38
Boyz II Men cover
American contemporary R&B Motown group Boyz II Men recorded the song in an a cappella rendition 16 years later. Released as a single, Boyz II Men's recording peaked at number one on the US Cash Box Top 100 and number two on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as topping the Hot R&B Singles chart in December 1991. The track, produced by Dallas Austin, was included on Boyz II Men's first album, Cooleyhighharmony (1991), its name a reference to the film from which the song originated. The music video for the song is dedicated to rapper MC Trouble, who died a few months after the album's release, and it featured archive footage of Sarah Vaughan, Jim Henson, Sammy Davis Jr. and Gilda Radner, and several others who had died recently. The song was used in the 1992 action film Lethal Weapon 3, in the funeral scene for Daryl, a 15-year-old gangbanger shot down by Murtaugh.
Track listings US cassette single A It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday (LP Version) Album Snippets B1 Under Pressure B2 Please Don't Go B3 Lonely Heart B4 Uhh Ahh B5 It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday
Europe Maxi-CD It's Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday (Radio Version) 3:06 It's Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday (A capella Version) 3:49 Album Snippets 3a Under Pressure 0:48 3b Please Don't Go 1:00 3c Lonely Heart 1:00 3d Uhh Ahh 1:03
Charts
Weekly charts Chart (1991–1993)PeakpositionAustralia (ARIA) 100Canada Retail Singles (The Record) 5Canada Contemporary Hit Radio (The Record) 17Israel (IBA) Search "Boyz II Men" for Israeli chart history.41US Cash Box Top 100Cash Box Chart Entries 1990-1996 1
Year-end charts Chart (1992)PositionNew Zealand (RIANZ) 49US Billboard Hot 100 37US Cash Box Top 100 16
Certifications
Release history RegionDateFormatLabelUnited StatesAugust 20, 1991MotownJapanOctober 21, 1991Mini-CDApril 25, 1993AustraliaJune 7, 1993Cassette
Other versions The Flex covered "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" for the House Party 2 soundtrack album, released in October 1991.
A Cantonese version of "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" was covered by Jacky Cheung. The song is titled "偷閒加油站" and it is featured on the 1992 album 真情流露.
In Lucifer series 5 episode 15, a version is sung by Ella Lopez (Aimee Garcia) and Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis). It begins with Ella singing in Spanish before Lucifer joins in and they continue in English.
Latin pop group Barrio Boyzz performed the song acapella in Spanish at the Premio Lo Nuestro awards in May 1995 in honor of the late Tejano singer Selena, who was murdered two months prior.
The song was sung by Greg Miller of Kinda Funny fame, in the 2025 Tim Gettys Farewell Tour.
See also R&B number-one hits of 1991 (USA)
References