diff --git a/src/changelog/mod.rs b/src/changelog/mod.rs
index 6a06e77..c9ef833 100644
--- a/src/changelog/mod.rs
+++ b/src/changelog/mod.rs
@@ -22,15 +22,36 @@ impl Changelog {
             return Ok(None);
         }
         let mut cmd = Command::new("git");
-        cmd.arg("log").arg("--oneline").arg("--decorate");
+        cmd.arg("log").arg(format!("{}..HEAD", Self::get_last_tag()?,)).arg("--oneline");
         let out = cmd.output()?;
         // FIXME: this does not catch fancy colors
         let buf = String::from_utf8(out.stdout).map_err(|err|{
             ChangelogError::GitUTF8Error(err)
         })?;
+        if !out.status.success() {
+            return Err(
+                ChangelogError::GitBadStatus(out.status, buf).into()
+            )
+        }
 
         Ok(Some(buf))
     }
+
+    fn get_last_tag() -> Result<String> {
+        let mut cmd = Command::new("git");
+        cmd.arg("describe").arg("--tags").arg("--abbrev=0");
+        let out = cmd.output()?;
+        let buf = String::from_utf8(out.stdout).map_err(|err|{
+            ChangelogError::GitUTF8Error(err)
+        })?;
+        if !out.status.success() {
+            return Err(
+                ChangelogError::GitBadStatus(out.status, buf).into()
+            )
+        }
+        let buf = buf.replace("\n", "");
+        return Ok(buf)
+    }
 }
 
 impl Display for Changelog {
diff --git a/src/error.rs b/src/error.rs
index 32e5d7b..deb1e8a 100644
--- a/src/error.rs
+++ b/src/error.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-use std::{path::PathBuf, string::FromUtf8Error};
+use std::{path::PathBuf, process::ExitStatus, string::FromUtf8Error};
 
 use anyhow;
 use thiserror::Error;
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ pub enum ChangelogError {
     GitCommandError,
     #[error("error while using `git log`, could not format stdout with utf8")]
     GitUTF8Error(#[from] FromUtf8Error),
+    #[error("git exited with status {0}: {1}")]
+    GitBadStatus(ExitStatus, String),
 }
 #[derive(Error, Debug)]
 pub enum ConfigError {