Let Me Go, Love

Album: In The Nick Of Time (1979)
Charted: 35
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Songfacts®:

  • Nicolette Larson duets with Michael McDonald on "Let Me Go, Love," the first single from her second album, In The Nick Of Time. They sing together on the song, which is about that awful feeling when you know your partner is unhappy in the relationship, and you just want that person to end it so the healing can begin.
  • Michael McDonald wrote the song with Bonnie Jean Cook, a singer who at the time was married to the producer David Foster. McDonald was a member of The Doobie Brothers; a year earlier, Larson appeared on the group's song "Sweet Feelin'," singing with Pat Simmons.
  • Larson had a #1 hit on the Adult Contemporary chart with her first single, "Lotta Love," which also reached #8 on the Pop chart. She was part of the West Coast music scene that included Linda Ronstadt and Neil Young; she was a backup singer for both of them before launching her solo career (Young wrote "Lotta Love").

    "Let Me Go, Love" was just a minor hit; Larson soon fell off the charts and reinvented herself as a country singer in the mid-'80s. She died in 1997 at 45.
  • This was produced by Ted Templeman, who also worked with the Doobie Brothers and was likely the connection to Michael McDonald. The guitarist on the song is Paul Barrere of Little Feat, who used a small guitar called a guitalele.

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