"I Will Not Say Goodbye" is the title of a song written by Lari White

Lari White

Lari Michele White is an American country music artist and actress. She first gained national attention in 1992 as a winner on You Can Be a Star, a talent competition which aired on The Nashville Network...

, Chuck Cannon

Chuck Cannon

Charles Marion "Chuck" Cannon, Jr. is an American country music songwriter. His compositions include hit singles for Toby Keith and John Michael Montgomery. Cannon has also received awards for Broadcast Music Incorporated, as well as an Academy of Country Music award for Song of the Year...

 and Vicky McGehee, and recorded by American Idol

American Idol

American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...

season 8 finalist Danny Gokey

Danny Gokey

Daniel Jay "Danny" Gokey is an American country music singer and church music director from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the third place finalist on the eighth season of American Idol...

. The song was released in June 2010 and served as the second single to his debut album My Best Days

My Best Days

Matt Bjorke of Roughstock gave a positive review, saying that its sound recalled country pop and contemporary Christian music, but also saying that it "sure feels like Danny Gokey has gotten himself a strong set of songs that find him in strong voice." Allmusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave...

, which was released on March 2, 2010 via RCA Nashville.

Critical reception

Matt Bjorke of Roughstock described the song positively in his review of the album, saying that it "is a definite show stopper". Brian Mansfield of USA Today

USA Today

USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

also said that "It'll be a showstopper live". Jon Caramanica of The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

 gave a positive review of the song by calling it "devastating" and "by far the album’s best song."

Music video

The music video was directed by Wes Edwards

Wes Edwards

Wes Edwards is a music video and commercial director. He has directed several Jason Aldean videos, as well as others.-Music videos directed:This is a list of music videos directed by Wes Edwards...

. It tells the stories of people who have lost a husband, a mother, and a son, including footage of Gokey performing the song in a theatre and house in Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

. The video is almost 7 minutes in length.

Chart performance

"I Will Not Say Goodbye" debuted at #53 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

charts dated for the week ending July 3, 2010. The single peaked at #32 in August after 11 weeks.
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Chart (2010)	Peak position