Country music has evolved and changed over the last few decades, as has almost every other style of music. Some of the changes might be for the better. Still, here is something about traditional country music, and the stories in the songs that still tug at our heartstrings. We found four traditional country lyrics that hit you right in the heart.

“Tonight I Climbed The Wall” by Alan Jackson

Alan Jackson released “Tonight I Climbed The Wall” on his third studio album, A Lot About Livin’ (And a Little ’bout Love). Written solely by Jackson, the song is about a man swallowing his pride, with the hopes of rekindling his relationship with his wife.

“Our room was filled with silence,” Jackson sings. “I guess we’d said it all / I don’t know when I’d seen our bedroom / So long I can’t recall / We’d built this thing between us / I’m not sure what’s the cause / So I swallowed all my pride / And tonight I climbed the wall.”

The country song could have been partly autobiographical. Only a few years after “Tonight I Climbed The Wall” was released, Jackson and his wife, Denise, separated. Fortunately, they reunited several months later and remain happily married to this day.

“If We Make It Through December” by Merle Haggard

Merle Haggard’s “If We Make It Through December“, first released in 1973, is a gutwrenching lyric, although a current of hope runs through the song. The song, written by Haggard, is about a man who can’t afford to buy Christmas presents for his little girl.

“Got laid off down at the factory / And their timing’s not the greatest in the world,” Haggard sings. “Heaven knows I been working hard / Wanted Christmas to be right for daddy’s girl / I don’t mean to hate December / It’s meant to be the happy time of year / And my little girl don’t understand / Why daddy can’t afford no Christmas here / If we make it through December / Everything’s gonna be all right, I know.“

In 2023, Cody Johnson performed this song as part of his Cody Johnson Christmas TV special. He recalls a time when he heard that song and only had $20 to his name.

“We were very young, very fresh in our marriage. And that hit me hard,” Johnson recalls to CMT. “‘If We Make It Through December’ came on the radio on the way home. And I was biting my cheek trying not to cry.”

“How Can I Help You Say Goodbye” by Patty Loveless

As heartbreaking songs go, Patty Loveless released a poignant one in 1994. “How Can I Help You Say Goodbye” is written by Karen Taylor-Good and Burton Banks Collins. The song is on her 1993 Only What I Feel album.

The entire song is about saying goodbye. It begins with a childhood friend, then a marriage, ending with the death of her mother. The song says in part, “Sittin’ with mama alone in her bedroom / She opened her eyes and then squeezed my hand / She said, ‘I have to go now, my time here is over’ / And with her final words, she tried to help me understand / Mama whispered softly / ‘Time will ease your pain / Life’s about changin’ / Nothin’ ever stays the same’ / And she said, ‘How can I help you /To say goodbye?‘”

Collins was inspired to write the song after experiencing a loss in his own family.

“He Stopped Loving Her Today” by George Jones

If there is a more heart-tugging lyric than George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” it probably has yet to be written. Out by Jones in 1980, the song is written by Bobby Braddock and Curly Putnam.

“He Stopped Loving Her Today” is about a man who continues to love a woman until the day he dies. The song says in part, “He stopped loving her today / They placed a wreath upon his door / And soon they’ll carry him away / He stopped loving her today.”

The song is arguably the biggest of Jones’ career. Interestingly, it’s one he initially refused to record, based on the subject matter. When his producer, Billy Sherrill, first brought him “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” Jones predicted no one would even listen to it.

“I looked Billy square in the eye and said, ‘Nobody will buy that morbid son of a b–h,’” Jones recounts in his autobiography, I Lived to Tell It All (via The Boot). Fortunately, Jones was wrong, and “He Stopped Loving Her Today” became his first No. 1 hit in six years.

“To put it simply, I was back on top,” Jones says. “Just that quickly. I don’t want to belabor this comparison, but a four-decade career was salvaged by a three-minute song.”

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