‘Goes Without Saying’ by Post Malone & Brad Paisley - Lyrics & Meaning

Although a young Austin Richard Post was sharing country cover videos long before he was known as ‘Post Malone’, fans tend to think of his 2021 rendition of Brad Paisley's ’I'm Gonna Miss Her’ as the moment everyone woke up to his prowess as a country artist.

Following that performance, which arrived as part of Matthew McConaughey's We're Texas benefit, Brad Paisley jokingly changed the bio on his social media pages to “I write songs for Post Malone”, and expressed his love for Posty's cover, “Always humbling when another artist does your song better than you. Post Malone, well done”.

As a result, it feels like an emotional full-circle moment to see Brad Paisley featured on Post Malone's debut country album, F-1Trillion, on the traditional-leaning ‘Goes Without Saying’.

Brad has been a part of so many key milestones in Posty's country career so far, including inviting him to make his Grand Ole Opry debut and performing alongside him on the night, with the duo delivering the live debut of ‘Goes Without Saying’.

‘Goes Without Saying’ opens with a joyously twangy guitar riff, courtesy of Brad Paisley himself, before Post Malone's forlorn, gently quivering vibrato enters the fray. It has the feel of a classic ‘90s country hit, with a fiddle and the faint cry of steel guitar accentuating the wonderfully retro ambience of the light-hearted ballad.

Similarly to Brad Paisley's iconic track, ‘I'm Gonna Miss Her’, ‘Goes Without Saying’ is bittersweet, but errs on the side of levity. Although it's a song about lost love, Posty and Brad deliver the infectious earworm of a hook with a twinkle in their eyes.

“Could've turned my whiskey and my Whitley and my crazy down a notch

Could've bought a few more dozen from that on-my-way-home flower shop

Could've said I'm sorry, finally got around to changing

Yeah, it goes without saying”

Post Malone makes it clear from the off that he accepts the blame for the break-up, underlining to the listener that he's been behaving poorly and struggling to relinquish his wild spirit. The way he croons this opening line, he makes the listener think he could either be singing ‘Whitley’, as a reference to legendary country singer, Keith Whitley, who died due to alcoholism back in 1989 - or ‘Whitney’.

The former feels more likely and suited to the classic country lyricism of the song, but the latter would be a subtle nod back to one of Post Malone's first hits, ‘Feeling Whitney’, appearing on his debut album, Stoney. In this track, he uses Whitney Houston as a metaphor for his reliance on drinking lean, a drug originating in Houston.

Like ‘Whitley’, this ‘Whitney’ lyric would fit in with the off-the-rails character that drives the first line in ’Goes Without Saying’, but also feels a bit heavy for the tone of the song - as a result, it seems most likely that Posty is instead referencing Keith Whitley.

Throughout the remainder of this verse, Posty finds himself wishing he'd bought some more flowers on his way home, before touching on deeper ways in which he could've salvaged the relationship, such as changing his party-loving lifestyle.

“It goes without saying

That she ain't coming back

It goes without saying

She put me in the past

That train left the station

She didn't have to tell me why

There she goes without saying, without saying ‘Goodbye’”

The hook leads up to an irresistibly witty punchline, with Post Malone and Brad Paisley first outlining how it ‘goes without saying’ that the relationship is in ruins, because their mistakes are plain for all to see and don't need elucidating. They then flip this phrase and cleverly transition into making the point that the lover they're singing about has taken off, and therefore she ‘goes without saying’ ‘Goodbye’.

“Could've put her first, tucked in my shirt and gone to Church instead of staying out

Could've told her not to go, and stopped her old red Honda leaving town

I could list a hundred reasons why she did the walking

But her taillights are doing all the talking”

For Brad Paisley's verse, he continues Post Malone's reflections of what he could've done better to save his relationship, ranging from the seemingly trivial, such as tucking in his shirt and making more of an effort to look smart for her, to a more profound mentality shift, where he puts her first. He sets up another iteration of the chorus by emphasising that there are “a hundred reasons” why she would leave, but she doesn't need to spell any of them out. As he stares at the taillights of her red Honda driving out of his life, he accepts that it goes without saying why she's broken up with him, hence why she goes without saying farewell.

“No ‘See you around’, no ‘It's not you, it's me’

No long drawn-out, she kept it short and not so sweet”

Post Malone and Brad Paisley trade lines as they expand on the titular lyric, and highlight that the lover in question didn't even offer them a cursory heartbreak cliche, such as ‘See you around’ or ‘It's not you, it's me’. Posty switches up the famous phrase, ‘Keep it short and sweet’, by describing her goodbye as short but ‘not so sweet’.

During the live debut of ‘Goes Without Saying’ at the Opry, Post Malone welcomed his good friend back to the stage by teasing, “Hey Brad, so we wrote a song, we made a song. Would you play it with me?” before Brad made a gesture implying he'll need paying. Hilariously, Posty responded, “Okay, I saw you, I'll venmo you later...”

Then, on a more serious note, Brad Paisley endearingly paid tribute to his buddy, Posty, and stressed how much he loves their collaboration, “First of all, I mean, look where you're standing, in that circle. It suits you completely. There's a tattoo of that waiting to happen somewhere on a blank spot that you've got left, right? I'm honoured to be on the record, this is one of my favourite songs I've ever cut”.

After a stellar performance from the hallowed Opry circle, Post Malone recalled how Brad Paisley served as one of his biggest musical inspirations when he was a child, “You know, watching Brad growing up, I was always just mind-blown by someone who could play guitar like that, and Brad Paisley, you are the best living guitar player on the planet, and I'm so honoured to call you my friend, too. Thank you”.

“Could've turned my whiskey and my Whitley and my crazy down a notch

Could've bought a few more dozen from that on-my-way-home flower shop

Could've said I'm sorry, finally got around to changing

Yeah, it goes without saying

-

It goes without saying

That she ain't coming back

It goes without saying

She put me in the past

That train left the station

She didn't have to tell me why

There she goes without saying, without saying ‘Goodbye’

Sayin’ ‘Goodbye’

-

Could've put her first, tucked in my shirt and gone to Church instead of staying out

Could've told her not to go, and stopped her old red Honda leaving town

I could list a hundred reasons why she did the walking

But her taillights are doing all the talking

-

It goes without saying

That she ain't coming back

It goes without saying

She put me in the past

That train left the station

She didn't have to tell me why

There she goes without saying, without saying ‘Goodbye’

-

No ‘See you around’, no ‘It's not you, it's me’

No long drawn-out, she kept it short and not so sweet

-

And it goes without saying

That she ain't coming back

It goes without saying

She put me in the past

That train left the station

She didn't have to tell me why

There she goes without saying, without saying ‘Goodbye’”

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