"The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye" is a song by Swedish pop duo Roxette, written by Per Gessle and recorded in the spring of 1990 for their third studio album Joyride. However, the song was excluded from the album, and was instead recorded by former Modern Talking vocalist Thomas Anders, who in April 1991 issued his version as the lead single from his solo album Whispers. Six months later, Roxette released their original recording as a limited edition promotional single exclusively in Sweden. In 1993, a version produced by Phil Ramone was recorded by American singer Laura Branigan for her seventh studio album, Over My Heart. The same year, Phil Thornalley produced a version for Jason Donovan, which was included as a b-side to his single "All Around the World".[1]
Roxette included their original version as a b-side on the "Spending My Time" (1991) and "Vulnerable" (1995) singles, as well as their 1995 compilation Rarities.[1] It also appeared on The Rox Box/Roxette 86–06 (2006). In 2012, a remix of the song created by Peter Boström was released as a non-album single. This remix went on to appear on Roxette XXX – The 30 Biggest Hits (2014) and The RoxBox!: A Collection of Roxette's Greatest Songs (2015).[2]