F2020: 10 Country Songs to Tell This Awful Year Goodbye
2020 is probably not destined to go down in the annals of history as one of the best years on record, to put it mildly. The global COVID-19 pandemic and all of the losses we've all incurred because of it have dominated the year and made it seem just almost unbearable at times. But the good news is, 2020 is just about over, and Taste of Country has put together a list of country songs to put this awful year in its place as we bid it a not-so-fond farewell.
Are you tired of 2020 and looking forward to seeing this dumpster fire of a year hit the bricks? Read on for a list of the country songs that give us the right words to tell off such an awful year as we kick it to the curb once and for all.
10. "Six Feet Apart," Luke Combs
There have been plenty of songs to come out of the imposed isolation of the COVID-19 quarantine, but Luke Combs best captured the wistful mood of so many of us with "Six Feet Apart." The lyrics call out a series of the special moments we're all missing this year by not being together, longing for "someday when we aren't six feet apart," but at the time offering the assurance, "There will be light after dark." So take that, 2020! You can't keep us down forever.
9. "Bye Bye," Jo Dee Messina
Jo Dee Messina leaves a former flame in a cloud of dust in this empowering hit from 1998, and that's what we'd like to do to 2020. As she sings, "Bye bye love I'll catch you later / Got a lead foot down on my accelerator/ And the rearview mirror torn off /'Cause I ain't never lookin' back, and that's a fact." Once it's over, we're never, ever looking back at this twisted wreckage of a year.
8. "Consider Me Gone," Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire is ostensibly talking to a man in "Consider Me Gone," but it voices the thoughts we'd like to say to 2020. "Let's not drag this on / Consider me gone," she sings. Amen.
7. "I'm Movin' On," Rascal Flatts
Rascal Flatts scored a huge hit with this song about self-reflection and continuing on down life's highway changed for the better. Let's hope that's what we all have waiting for us after this terrible year is over. We're movin' on, 2020.
6. "Take Your Memory With You," Vince Gill
Vince Gill is the all-time king of country heartbreak songs. In this one, he implores, "Why don't you leave before the heartache starts to show / Take your memory with you when you go." We suggest you do the same, 2020 — frankly, we don't want even your memory hanging around, you wretched excuse for a year.
5. "Kiss This," Aaron Tippin
Aaron Tippin minces no words in this done-me-wrong country song, and nobody in any country song has ever done anybody as wrong as 2020 has done us all. So these immortal words never rang more true: "Why don't you kiss, kiss this / And I don't mean on my rosy red lips."
Me and you? We're through, 2020.
4. "Nothin' But the Taillights," Clint Black
Clint Black imparted a rueful sense of humor in "Nothin' But the Tailights," which tells of a man who's not quite sure why a woman has dropped him off on the side of the road and driven away. But it's not hard to say why we want to see nothin' but the taillights from 2020 ... simply put, this year really sucks.
3. "Thank God and Greyhound," Roy Clark
Roy Clark's classic hit bids farewell to a lover who's taken the bus out of town, expressing relief that he'll never have to deal with her again. "Thank God and Greyhound you're gone / I didn't know how much longer I could go on." That's exactly how we'll all feel on Jan. 1.
2. "Love You," Jack Ingram
Jack Ingram's clever f-you to an ex is exactly what saying goodbye to 2020 requires. "There's some words that some words just have to replace," he sings in the suggestive lyrics. And since Taste of Country is a family-oriented website, he's right. "There's only one four-letter word that'll do ..."
So love you, 2020!
1. "F2020," Avenue Beat
Nobody captured the craptacular spirit of 2020 quite like Avenue Beat. Their viral hit, "F2020," is the song that most epitomizes the way we all feel about this flaming rotten garbage pile of a year.
"Lowkey f--k 2020 / I don't know about everybody else / But I think that I am kinda done / Can we just get to 2021? Please," they sing.
There's not much else we can add, except this: We can only hope that 2021 is way, way better.