Songfacts®:

• Henry Paul was a member of The Outlaws before leaving the group in 1977 and forming his own band. Says Paul: "'So Long' is just a great song. I was a big Gordon Lightfoot fan, and the intro to that song sort of mirrors his musical style, that folk music thing that I love. It's a very popular song of mine. You get it right now and then, and when you do people really reward you for it. And I was rewarded, and still am to this day, rewarded by that song."
• Once again, Paul wore his heart on his sleeve when he wrote this song about his high school sweetheart: "There again, it's a song written about my old flame. Same ole girl, every time I went to that well. 'Girl From Ohio,' 'So Long,' just same old emotional sort of vacuum where you go and kind of mull over the unfinished business. 'Storm is overcome with rage, I slowly turn another page, deeper into love I seem to go. Love stories filled with scattered lies, and broken hearts and paradise, and for the ending no one seems to know. 'Cause it's been so long since I've held you close enough to me that I feel I've finally come to lose my heart.'" (Check out our interview with Henry Paul. For more, go to www.blackhawkmusic.us.)