Three Great Covers of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Goodbye to Romance”

A look at new-to-me versions of an Ozzy classic

Photo by Love Arya on Unsplash

I was a freshman in high school when Ozzy Osbourne released Blizzard of Ozz, which was his debut solo album. It came out not long after Ozzy left the legendary heavy metal band Black Sabbath, which he had been the lead singer of for the majority of the 1970s.

The only song I knew by them back then was “Iron Man” and I was aware of it only because it shared its title with the name of one of my favorite superheroes. Although I grew to love it over time, it didn’t knock me out at first.

Conversely, I loved the music on Ozzy’s Blizzard of Ozz album right away. Like it was for a lot of people, the first song I knew from it was “Crazy Train,” which had been released as a single shortly before the release of the album. I loved it so much that I bought a copy of the album shortly after it was released (which was September 1980 in the UK and March 1981 here in the US).

One of the first songs I fell in love with on it was the ballad “Goodbye To Romance,” which Ozzy co-wrote with two of the musicians who played on it: lead guitarist Randy Rhoads and bassist Bob Daisley.

Ozzy’s vocals on it are great. So is the music, especially the beautiful and rocking guitar work of Randy Rhoads.

It’s one of the rare songs I’ve never gotten tired of listening to — even after 45 years.

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A few days before I began writing this piece you’re reading, I stumbled upon a playlist online which contained cover versions of famous songs originally done by famous heavy metal artists. One I’d never heard, and had been completely unaware of, was Lisa Loeb’s 2007 version of “Goodbye To Romance.” I’ve been a pretty big fan of hers ever since her song “Stay (I Missed You)” made her a star in the 1990s, so I was very excited to hear her cover one of my favorites by Ozzy.

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I wasn’t at all disappointed in this.

In fact, I love it!

COOL TRIVIA: Dweezil Zappa played guitar on this one.

Listening to the above made me curious if other musicians had covered “Goodbye To Romance” over the years. A quick search led me to the next two covers, both of which I like a lot.

Mason Jennings

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Mason Jennings is a folk/pop singer and songwriter who has released close to 20 albums (and EPs) since 1997.

His version of “Goodbye To Romance” is from his 2024 album Holy Dive.

I’d never heard of Mason Jennings until I found this cover he did — which I like a lot! Now I’m looking forward to checking out other music by him.

The Alex Skolnick Trio

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Unlike the other two covers above, this 2002 cover is an instrumental version of the song. It’s mostly in the style of smooth jazz, but toward the end, it gets rocking pretty hard.

The song comes from the trio’s 2002 album Goodbye To Romance: Standards For A New Generation. I haven’t heard it yet but I plan to check it out soon. In addition to the Ozzy cover, there are also covers of other legendary acts like KISS, Aerosmith, and Scorpions.

The trio’s leader, guitarist Alex Skolnick, has played with many popular bands over the years, including a very brief stint with Ozzy Osbourne in 1995.

Ozzy passed away on July 22, 2025. Shortly afterward, on the day of Ozzy’s memorial, Skolnick released the video below, entitled “Goodbye To Ozzy,” on his YouTube account.

In addition to it being in memory of Ozzy, it was also in memory of Randy Rhoads, who had tragically died in a plane crash in 1982. The song here is a mix of both “Dee” (also from Blizzard Of Ozz) and “Goodbye To Romance.”

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So, what do you think of the above cover songs? Please let me know in the comments section!

Below is a Spotify playlist, created and maintained by this publication’s founder, Francis B., which contains all of the cover songs featured so far in The ReCovered. There are a lot of great songs here!

[embed]All the ReCovered cover songs on one jukebox; 57 to date.

Photo by Rishi Saxena on Unsplash