Baby, When You’re Gone

This week’s Song Lyric Sunday theme is about songs that feature lyrics of Concern, Fear, Fret, Worry suggested by Fandango of This, That and the Other. 

Around 5 am, I went to the bathroom then slept again only to have one of those unfortunate war nightmares. I hate it because they always feel real being that we do experience this here. So when I saw the theme, I began thinking of songs that best fit my worries about war but then I realized I hate war.

But what do I love?

I love LOVE.

Being a hopeless romantic, I am obsessed with that feeling when we’re just starting to fall, there’s this odd sense of worry, concern, and anxiety. It literally gives us all the feels.

I remembered this song!

“When You’re Gone” was written by Bryan Adams and Eliot Kennedy during production of the former’s eighth studio album On a Day Like Today (1998). Adams initially sought American musician Sheryl Crow to perform the song as a duet, but did not receive a response from her. He unexpectedly encountered Melanie C inside a hotel elevator in Los Angeles, where he asked her to appear on “When You’re Gone”. Adams first met Melanie C on British music chart television show Top of the Pops (TOTP), during the Spice Girls’ performance of their 1996 song “Wannabe”. The song was recorded at the Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, Canada, from June to August 1998, with Adams and Bob Rock handling production.

“When You’re Gone” was first released on radio airplay in Europe before being distributed as a single on November 30, 1998. In the United States, A&M Records serviced the song to contemporary hit radio on March 2, 1999. “When You’re Gone” is Melanie C’s debut single since becoming the first member of the Spice Girls to begin a solo career, and is Adams’ second single from On a Day Like Today. In 2005, Adams recorded a duet of “When You’re Gone” with Canadian-American actress Pamela Anderson for his compilation album titled Anthology (2005). He phoned Anderson five times to convince her to record the song, who initially thought she was being Punk’d.

When You’re Gone by Bryan Adams ft. Melanie C

I’ve been wandering around the house all night
Wondering what the hell to do
But I’m trying to concentrate but
All I can think of is you, yeah

Well, the phone don’t ring ’cause my friends ain’t home
I’m tired of being all alone
Got the TV on ’cause the radio’s playing
Songs that remind me of you

Baby, when you’re gone
I realize I’m in love
Days go on and on
And the nights just seem so long
Even food don’t taste that good
Drink ain’t doing what it should, oh
Things just feel so wrong
Baby, when you’re gone

I’ve been driving up and down these streets
Trying to find somewhere to go
Well I’m looking for a familiar face
But there’s no one I know, yeah

Oh, this is torture, this is pain
It feels like I’m gonna go insane
I hope you’re coming back real soon
‘Cause I don’t know what to do

Baby, when you’re gone (oh)
I realize I’m in love (oh)
Days go on and on
And the nights just seem so long
Even food don’t taste that good
Drink ain’t doing what it should
Things just feel so wrong
Baby, when you’re gone

Oh, baby, when you’re gone (Berlin)
I realize I’m in love
Days go on and on
And the nights just seem so long
Even food don’t taste that good
Drink ain’t doing what it should
(Drink ain’t doing what it should)
Things just feel so wrong (oh)
Baby, when you’re gone

Oh yeah, baby, when you’re gone
Baby, when you’re gone

Songwriters: Bryan Adams / Eliot Kennedy / Jader Fran Pinheiro Gadelha / Carlos Clemes Pinheiro Gadelha