"When You're Gone" is a song performed by the Canadian singer Avril Lavigne for her 2007 album The Best Damn Thing. It was co-written and produced by Butch Walker and released as the album's second single on May 18, 2007
Background[]
Avril Lavigne has said the song "is about being with someone you love, and you have to say goodbye, and all the little things you miss about them". The song may have been inspired by Lavigne's husband, Deryck Whibley, although in an interview in Northern Ireland with The Belfast Telegraph she did not confirm this. According to her, she did not intend the song to be a love song, but she was writing a slow song and the process brought out "all that emotional stuff" in her. "It's not cheesy, because I wrote it", she said. "If I was older, a professional writer coming up with all that, that would be lame."
Billboard magazine describes the song as "a power ballad with a piano and synth introduction." Composer Rob Mathes orchestrated the song with a genuine string section, although the brief opening note before the piano came in, was on a synthesizer.
Music video []
The video was directed by Marc Klasfeld, filmed in early May 2007. who is most well-known from his works of director for Sum 41's music videos. Lavigne reportedly came up with the concept for the video. It features a young pregnant woman whose husband is away fighting in the war, an elderly man whose wife has recently died, and a teenage couple who are forbidden by the girl's mother to be together. The video portrays three relationships in different age groups but in the same situation. Lavigne said that the video is very personal.
The video portrays three relationships in different age groups, but in the same situation involving these relationships on the verge of being destroyed. The first vignette involves a pregnant woman whose husband is fighting in the war. After his departure, she watches news of war casualties on the television and is distraught when she is not receive any texts from her husband telling her how he is doing. The second involves an elderly man whose wife has recently died. He becomes emotional when he looks over her clothes and mementos from their time together. The third involves a teenage couple relaxing in the park together only to be caught by the girl's controlling mother who forbids them from seeing each other ever again. The mother locks her daughter in her bedroom, where the girl helplessly cries over the photos of her and her boyfriend on her camera. Interspersed are scenes of Lavigne wandering in a field and playing a piano in an abandoned house. In the end, the walls of all the respective houses collapse, and all three vignettes break out into daylight with the teenage girl returning to the place where the duo were caught despite his absence, the elderly man raising a toast to his wife in a graveyard, and the pregnant woman attending a military memorial service with other military wives, where she finally receives a text from her husband saying: "I'm okay. I miss U."
Chart performance and promotion[]
Before its release as a single in the United States, "When You're Gone" reached number ninety on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number seventy-seven on the Billboard Pop 100, in the Billboard issue dated May 5, 2007. "When You're Gone" debuted at number thirty-two on UK Singles Chart, and peaked at number three. The single has also done well on the charts in Canada. On the 9th of November, "When You're Gone" also reached number one on the Argentinian Top 40 Chart after 15 weeks, making it one of Avril Lavigne's longest enduring hits that could achieve a #1 spot. 'When You're Gone' also became the first and nearly only English performed song so far that could reach the Number 1 of the Argentinian Top 40 Chart in 2007, as before the song topped the charts in November, no song could make it.
The song was used in the second season finale of the MTV show The Hills, playing during the climatic "moving out" scene between former best friends Lauren and Heidi. It was also used in the series 7 finale of "2 Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps." Lavigne performed the song on June 15, 2007 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. There is an acoustic version of the song on the deluxe edition of The Best Damn Thing on the iTunes Store. It is very different from the album version and was produced by Dr. Luke.
Track listings[]
Japanese single CD[]
- ."When You're Gone" (album version)
- "When You're Gone" (instrumental)
- "Girlfriend" (Japanese version)
UK CD 1/French single[]
- "When You're Gone" (album version)
- "Girlfriend" (Dr. Luke remix feat. Lil' Mama)
UK CD 2/Australia/Taiwan single[]
- "When You're Gone" – 3:57
- "Girlfriend" (Dr. Luke Remix) – 3:25
- "Girlfriend" (Submarines' Time Warp 66 mix) – 3:12
- "When You're Gone" (video) – 4:08
Lyrics[]
I always needed time on my own
I never thought I'd
Need you there when I cry
And the days feel like years when I'm alone
And the bed where you lie
Is made up on your side
When you walk away
I count the steps that you take
Do you see how much I need you right now?
When you're gone
The pieces of my heart are missing you
When you're gone
The face I came to know is missing too
When you're gone
The words I need to hear
To always get me through the day
And make it okay, I miss you
I've never felt this way before
Everything that I do
Reminds me of you
And the clothes you left, they lie on the floor
And they smell just like you
I love the things that you do
When you walk away
I count the steps that you take
Do you see how much I need you right now?
When you're gone
The pieces of my heart are missing you
And when you're gone
The face I came to know is missing too
And when you're gone
The words I need to hear
To always get me through the day
And make it okay, I miss you
We were made for each other
Out here forever
I know we were, yeah-yeah
And all I ever wanted was for you to know!
Everything I do, I'd give my heart and soul!
I can hardly breathe; I need to feel you here with me! Yeah-eh!
When you're gone
The pieces of my heart are missing you
And when you're gone
The face I came to know is missing too
And when you're gone
The words I need to hear
Will always get me through the day
And make it okay, I miss you, mmm
Gallery[]
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