If You Go Away
Encyclopedia
"If You Go Away" is a song in English based upon the French song "Ne me quitte pas
" (1959), written by Jacques Brel
. The English lyrics were written by Rod McKuen
as part of a larger project to translate Brel's work. "If You Go Away" is considered a pop standard and has been recorded by many artists, including Greta Keller
, for whom some say McKuen wrote the lyrics. Frank Sinatra
, Tom Jones
, Brenda Lee
, Violetta Villas
, Shirley Bassey
, Daliah Lavi
, Marc Almond
, Emilíana Torrini
, Neil Diamond
, Scott Walker
, Farhad Mehrad
, Dusty Springfield
, Madonna
, Cyndi Lauper
, Patricia Kaas
, Terry Jacks
have also recorded versions of it, with several of the numerous versions becoming hits and achieving success on the charts.
The complex melody is partly derivative of classical music - the poignant "But if you stay..." passage comes from Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6.
Nick Currie, better known as Momus
, returned to the original song and translated it as "Don't Leave" in 1986, released initially on the Jacques EP and then on an expanded reissue of the album Circus Maximus.
In the original French version, the singer begs for his lover not to leave him and is more supplicant and almost self-humiliating (the title "Ne me quitte pas" translates "Do not leave me"). Significant is the last image of the French version; although the McKuen version has lyrics that come close to the original sentiment, the French lyrics are far bleaker (as is the song in general):"Let me become the shadow of your shadow, the shadow of your hand, the shadow of your dog" (lit. translation of the original) as opposed to "I'd have been the shadow of your shadow if I thought it might have kept me by your side" (English lyrics).
The English version omits an interesting section of the original version in which the singer begs his lover to give their relationship a second chance, using examples derived from the natural world: "I will tell you of those lovers who saw their hearts catch fire twice"; "Fire has often been seen gushing out of an ancient volcano we thought too old"; "There are, people say, burnt lands that produce more wheat than the best of Aprils".
Ne me quitte pas
"Ne me quitte pas" is a song written and sung in French and in Dutch by the Belgian chansonnier Jacques Brel in 1959. It has been covered in the original French by many artists and has also been translated into and performed in many other languages...
" (1959), written by Jacques Brel
Jacques Brel
Jacques Brel was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following in France initially, and later throughout the world. He was widely considered a master of the modern chanson...
. The English lyrics were written by Rod McKuen
Rod McKuen
Rod McKuen is an American poet, songwriter, composer, and singer. He was one of the best-selling poets in the United States during the late 1960s. Throughout his career, McKuen produced a wide range of recordings, which included popular music, spoken word poetry, film soundtracks, and classical music...
as part of a larger project to translate Brel's work. "If You Go Away" is considered a pop standard and has been recorded by many artists, including Greta Keller
Greta Keller
Greta Keller-Bacon was a cabaret singer and Hollywood actress.-Biography:Born Margaretha Keller in Vienna, Austria, she studied dance from the age of eight, followed by acting. Her début was in Pavillon, in Vienna. She also appeared on stage with Marlene Dietrich in Broadway, in which she sang and...
, for whom some say McKuen wrote the lyrics. Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
, Brenda Lee
Brenda Lee
Brenda Mae Tarpley , known as Brenda Lee, is an American performer who sang rockabilly, pop and country music, and had 37 US chart hits during the 1960s, a number surpassed only by Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Ray Charles and Connie Francis...
, Violetta Villas
Violetta Villas
Violetta Villas is a Belgian-born Polish and international singer, actress, composer and songwriter. Her voice is characterized as coloratura soprano, she has five-octave vocal range and absolute pitch. Villas can play the piano, violin and trombone...
, Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
, Daliah Lavi
Daliah Lavi
Daliah Lavi is an Israeli actress, singer and model.Born in Shavei Zion, British Mandate of Palestine, she studied ballet in Stockholm, Sweden, where she appeared in her first film Hemsöborna...
, Marc Almond
Marc Almond
Marc Almond is an English singer-songwriter and musician, who originally found fame as half of the seminal synthpop/New Wave duo Soft Cell...
, Emilíana Torrini
Emilíana Torrini
Emilíana Torrini Davíðsdóttir is an Icelandic singer, best known for her 2009 single Jungle Drum, 1999 album Love in the Time of Science and for performing "Gollum's Song" for Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.-Early life:Torrini grew up in Kópavogur, where, at the age of...
, Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
, Scott Walker
Scott Walker (singer)
Scott Walker, born Noel Scott Engel on January 9, 1943 is an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and the former lead singer of The Walker Brothers. Despite being American born, Walker's chart success has largely come in the United Kingdom, where his first four solo albums...
, Farhad Mehrad
Farhad Mehrad
Farhad Mehrad , widely known in Iran as Farhad was an award winning Persian legendary Rock singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist and icon. He rose to prominence among Iranian Rock and Folk musicians before the Islamic Revolution, but after the revolution he was banned from singing for several...
, Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
, Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
, Patricia Kaas
Patricia Kaas
Patricia Kaas is a French singer and actress.Kaas is a very successful French-speaking singer, with an International following...
, Terry Jacks
Terry Jacks
Terrence Ross "Terry" Jacks is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer and environmentalist.-Early life:...
have also recorded versions of it, with several of the numerous versions becoming hits and achieving success on the charts.
The complex melody is partly derivative of classical music - the poignant "But if you stay..." passage comes from Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6.
Lyrics
A sad but hopeful song, the lyrics are told from the perspective of someone telling their lover how much they'd be missed if they left. This is described in vivid, hyperbolic terms, such as "there'll be nothing left in the world to trust". If the lover stays, the narrator promises them both devotion and good times ("I'll make you a day / Like no day has been, or will be again"). Some lines show that the narrator is speaking to the lover as they already are leaving, or considering doing so ("Can I tell you now, as you turn to go..."). The lines "If you go, as I know you will" and later "...as I know you must" make clear that despite the narrator's protests, the lover's leaving is inevitable.Nick Currie, better known as Momus
Momus (artist)
Nick Currie , more popularly known under the artist name Momus , is a songwriter, blogger and former journalist for Wired...
, returned to the original song and translated it as "Don't Leave" in 1986, released initially on the Jacques EP and then on an expanded reissue of the album Circus Maximus.
McKuen lyrics
This translation is significantly different to the original lyric. The English version is based around contrasting what would happen "if you go away" and what could happen "if you stay".In the original French version, the singer begs for his lover not to leave him and is more supplicant and almost self-humiliating (the title "Ne me quitte pas" translates "Do not leave me"). Significant is the last image of the French version; although the McKuen version has lyrics that come close to the original sentiment, the French lyrics are far bleaker (as is the song in general):"Let me become the shadow of your shadow, the shadow of your hand, the shadow of your dog" (lit. translation of the original) as opposed to "I'd have been the shadow of your shadow if I thought it might have kept me by your side" (English lyrics).
The English version omits an interesting section of the original version in which the singer begs his lover to give their relationship a second chance, using examples derived from the natural world: "I will tell you of those lovers who saw their hearts catch fire twice"; "Fire has often been seen gushing out of an ancient volcano we thought too old"; "There are, people say, burnt lands that produce more wheat than the best of Aprils".
Momus lyrics
The lyrics of this version are closer to what Brel originally wrote.Cover versions
- In 1960, French chanteuse Barbara, a close friend of Brel, was the first to cover the song on her Barbara chante Brel album, for which she was awarded Le Grand Prix du Disque.
- In 1964, Marlene DietrichMarlene DietrichMarlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
recorded the first non-French cover version, "Bitte geh' nicht fort", which she performed at the Paris Olympia that year, when Brel was her support act.
- In 1965, singer Nina SimoneNina SimoneEunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
recorded a French version on her album, I Put a Spell On YouI Put a Spell on You (album)I Put a Spell on You is a 1965 album by singer/pianist/songwriter Nina Simone for Philips Records. It features some of Simone's best known songs.- Information about songs on this album :...
.
- Sexy Swede Lill Lindfors recorded the song as “Om du går din väg” in 1968 for her Polydor album “Kom i min värld” (Come To My World).
- In 1967, The SeekersThe SeekersThe Seekers are an Australian folk-influenced pop music group which were originally formed in 1962. They were the first Australian popular music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States...
recorded a version for their album, Seen in Green.
- In 1966, singer Damita JoDamita Jo DuBlancDamita Jo DeBlanc , a.k.a. Damita Jo, was an American actress, comedian, and lounge music performer. DeBlanc was born in Austin, Texas the featured vocalist on recordings from Steve Gibson and the Red Caps during the 1950s...
had a Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
hit with her version of this song.
- Brenda LeeBrenda LeeBrenda Mae Tarpley , known as Brenda Lee, is an American performer who sang rockabilly, pop and country music, and had 37 US chart hits during the 1960s, a number surpassed only by Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Ray Charles and Connie Francis...
covered the song with her version closely resembling Damita Jo's with only a slight "country & western" interperation separating it from Jo's.
- Shirley BasseyShirley BasseyDame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
released a version as a single in 1967, which also appeared on her album And We Were LoversAnd We Were LoversAnd We Were Lovers is a 1967 album by Shirley Bassey. The album is the first appearance of Big Spender, and the single that was issued hit #21 on the charts.And We Were Lovers was recorded in America and in England...
. Bassey also recorded an alternative version in Italy in 1968, this version was only issued in Italy as a single. McKuen was very fond of Bassey's version and wrote to her saying he enjoyed it and thanking her. In 2002, her version of the song featured in the movie Merci Docteur ReyMerci Docteur ReyMerci Docteur Rey is a 2002 Merchant Ivory's gay comedy film directed by Andrew Litvack, starring Diane Wiest and Jane Birkin. Filmed in Paris.-Synopsis:...
.
- Jack JonesJack Jones (singer)John Allan "Jack" Jones is an American jazz and pop singer. He was one of the most popular vocalists of the 1960s.-Overview:...
recorded the song for his album, Lady, in 1967.
- Lana CantrellLana CantrellLana Eleanor Cantrell AM is an Australian-American singer and entertainment lawyer. She was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in the Grammy Awards of 1968.-Music career:...
did a version in 1967 for her album And Then There Was Lana. While mainly in English, this version retains one line of the original French: "Ne me quitte pas."
- In 1967, singer Dusty SpringfieldDusty SpringfieldMary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
included a version on her album The Look of LoveThe Look of Love (Dusty Springfield album)The Look of Love is the fifth album of singer Dusty Springfield to be released in the USA, issued on the Philips Records label in late 1967. The album gathered seven tracks from Springfield's British 1967 album Where Am I Going? with both the A- and B-sides of the singles "Give Me Time"/"The Look...
. When Dusty's life story was turned into a musical in 2000, "If You Go Away" was chosen for the climax of the show. The stage Dusty was portrayed by singer/actress Mari WilsonMari WilsonMari Wilson is an English singer, best known for her sometimes quirky, early 1960s-influenced pop music songs, and her beehive hairstyle.-Career:...
.
- Tom JonesTom Jones (singer)Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
sang a version for his 1968 DeccaDecca RecordsDecca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
hit album Help Yourself. Jones' version was not a single.
- Country singer Glen CampbellGlen CampbellGlen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...
recorded a version on his 1968 album Wichita Lineman.
- Country/pop singer Brenda LeeBrenda LeeBrenda Mae Tarpley , known as Brenda Lee, is an American performer who sang rockabilly, pop and country music, and had 37 US chart hits during the 1960s, a number surpassed only by Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Ray Charles and Connie Francis...
recorded a version in Nashville in 1968. It appears on her album Johnny One Time.
- Frank SinatraFrank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
performed a version on his 1969 album My WayMy Way (Frank Sinatra album)My Way is an album by American singer Frank Sinatra, released in 1969.The album is a collection of contemporary pop songs, such as Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs...
.
- Neil DiamondNeil DiamondNeil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
included a version on his 1971 album Stones. In 2002, it was also included on Diamond's compilation album Love Songs.
- Scott WalkerScott Walker (singer)Scott Walker, born Noel Scott Engel on January 9, 1943 is an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and the former lead singer of The Walker Brothers. Despite being American born, Walker's chart success has largely come in the United Kingdom, where his first four solo albums...
, who covered many Brel songs in his solo career, recorded a version on his 1969 album Scott 3Scott 3The original U.S. Smash label vinyl issue omitted "30 Century Man", replacing it with "The Lights Of Cincinnati", a UK non-LP single from the same period...
. It was also included on the compilation album Scott Walker Sings Jacques BrelScott Walker Sings Jacques Brel-1990 CD Re-release:-Release details:...
(1981).
- The Chopsticks recorded a version on their fourth and final album, If You Go Away, released on Crown in Hong Kong around 1972.
- Sugiman Jahuri, a Singapore Malay Crooner recorded a version in the early 1970s.
- In 1974, Canadian musician Terry JacksTerry JacksTerrence Ross "Terry" Jacks is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer and environmentalist.-Early life:...
, after a suggestion by Brel, recorded a version of "If You Go Away" which was released as a single. Jacks had his biggest hit with another Brel cover, "Seasons in the SunSeasons in the SunApart from the versions noted above, there have been numerous cover versions of the song. Generally, these use the same translation as the Terry Jacks version, and thus inherit that version's less harsh interpretation of the song's storyline....
". It reached a peak of number 68 on the Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
- the same peak Damita Jo reached with her version.
- Ray CharlesRay CharlesRay Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
included a rendition of "If You Go Away" in his 1974 album Come Live with Me.
- Nana MouskouriNana MouskouriNana Mouskouri , born Ioánna Moúschouri on October 13, 1934, in Chania, Crete, Greece, is a Greek singer who has sold about 300 million records worldwide in a career spanning over five decades, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. She was known as Nána to her friends and...
included a rendition of "If You Go Away" in her 1974 album Nana's Book of Songs.
- The jazz singer Helen MerrillHelen MerrillHelen Merrill is an internationally known jazz vocalist.Merrill's recording career has spanned six decades and she is popular with fans of jazz in Japan and Italy as well as in her native United States...
recorded a nice version of "If You Go Away" in her 1989 album Collaboration, accompanied by tenor-saxophonist Stan GetzStan GetzStanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...
and pianist Joachim KühnJoachim Kühn-Biography:Kühn was a musical prodigy and made his debut as a concert pianist, having studied classical piano and composition with Arthur Schmidt-Elsey. Influenced by his elder brother, clarinetist Rolf Kühn, he simultaneously got interested in jazz. In 1961 he became a professional jazz musician....
.
- Julio IglesiasJulio IglesiasJulio José Iglesias de la Cueva , better known simply as Julio Iglesias, is a Spanish singer who has sold over 300 million records worldwide in 14 languages and released 77 albums. According to Sony Music Entertainment, he is one of the top 15 best selling music artists in history,...
recorded a version for his 1990 album Starry Night. It was also included on Iglesias' 2004 Love SongsLove Songs (Julio Iglesias)Love Songs is an English language compilation of mainly love songs by Julio Iglesias released in 2004. It contains his greatest English language hit - his duet with Willie Nelson on "To All The Girls I've Loved Before" which reached the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100...
compilation.
- Former Soft CellSoft CellSoft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. They consist of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The duo is most widely known for their 1981 worldwide hit version of "Tainted Love" and platinum debut Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret...
singer Marc AlmondMarc AlmondMarc Almond is an English singer-songwriter and musician, who originally found fame as half of the seminal synthpop/New Wave duo Soft Cell...
covered the song during his solo career, on Jaques, an album of Jaques Brel covers. He also performed the track live several times, perhaps most memorably at a Royal Albert HallRoyal Albert HallThe Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
performance on the live album Twelve Years of Tears in a very emotional rendition, with Almond sounding close to tears himself by the climax of the song. Also on Untitled, an album of Marc and the MambasMarc and the MambasMarc and the Mambas was a new wave group, formed by Marc Almond, in 1982 as an off-shoot project from Soft Cell. The band's line-up changed frequently, and included Matt Johnson from The The and Annie Hogan, with whom Almond worked later in his solo career....
released 1982.
- Eartha KittEartha KittEartha Mae Kitt was an American singer, actress, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 hit recordings of "C'est Si Bon" and the enduring Christmas novelty smash "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the...
recorded a live version of "If You Go Away" and included this song as part of her set when touring.
- In 1999, Polish singer Violetta VillasVioletta VillasVioletta Villas is a Belgian-born Polish and international singer, actress, composer and songwriter. Her voice is characterized as coloratura soprano, she has five-octave vocal range and absolute pitch. Villas can play the piano, violin and trombone...
performed the song live at a special concert making it the most popular version ever in Poland. She sang this song at her Violetta Villas show in Warsaw Operetta in 1993 too.
- In 2000, English group MolokoMolokoMoloko were an Anglo-Irish electronic/pop duo consisting of Róisín Murphy from Wicklow, Ireland and Mark Brydon, from Sunderland, England.- Origin of band name :...
remixed and reworked Shirley Bassey's version. The new track was released on Bassey's The Remix Album... Diamonds Are Forever and was properly titled the "DJ Skymoo mix". DJ Skymoo is a pseudonym for Moloko's Mark BrydonMark BrydonMark Errington Brydon is an English bassist, guitarist, composer, arranger, recording engineer, remix artist and producer best known as a member of the group Moloko.-Previous work:...
.
- In 2002, One-man GermanGermansThe Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
music project Wave in HeadWave in HeadWave in Head is a one man German synthpop music project, which was founded in 1993 in Magdeburg, Germany. His name is Michael Pohl.The first musical activities have been nothing more than a hobby, when he started, to make some noises with his first sampler, the Ensoniq ASR-10...
teamed up with Empire State HumanEmpire State Human"Empire State Human" is a song by the British Synthesizer group The Human League. The song was written by Philip Oakey, Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh...
to cover the song, featured on the album "Synthetic Broadway".
- Patricia KaasPatricia KaasPatricia Kaas is a French singer and actress.Kaas is a very successful French-speaking singer, with an International following...
's 2002 "Piano Bar by Patricia Kaas" concept album, that grew out of her performance in the film And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen with Jeremy IronsJeremy IronsJeremy John Irons is an English actor. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969, and has since appeared in many London theatre productions including The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the...
, contains her interpretation of the song, pushing the album to the Top Ten list in FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
- Cyndi LauperCyndi LauperCynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
's 2003 standards album At LastAt Last (Cyndi Lauper album)At Last is a Grammy Award-nominated 2003 album by Cyndi Lauper. It made the top 40 of the album charts in both the US and Australia. The album features a duet with Tony Bennett on "Makin' Whoopee". Lauper co-produced the album with Russ Titelman...
includes her version of the song. It was not released as one of the album's singles. The album, however, was a hit, with more than 4 million copies sold.
- MadonnaMadonna (entertainer)Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
’s cover was recorded in 2004 as one of the songs of Hello Suckers – Madonna’s musical that never saw the light of day. Producers of the musical were Patrick LeonardPatrick LeonardPatrick Raymond Leonard is an American songwriter, keyboardist and music producer, known for his longtime collaboration with Madonna on many different recordings....
and Mirwais AhmadzaïMirwais AhmadzaïMirwais Ahmadzaï, more commonly known as Mirwais, is a Paris based record producer and songwriter. He was born in Switzerland to an Afghan father and an Italian mother. He is a leader in the French style of progressive electronic dance music and progressive electronica...
.
- Emilíana TorriniEmilíana TorriniEmilíana Torrini Davíðsdóttir is an Icelandic singer, best known for her 2009 single Jungle Drum, 1999 album Love in the Time of Science and for performing "Gollum's Song" for Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.-Early life:Torrini grew up in Kópavogur, where, at the age of...
has covered "If You Go Away".
- Vietnamese singer Tran Thai Hoa sang the English version of the song in the 81st Paris by NightParis by NightParis By Night is a popular Vietnamese language musical variety show, produced by an Overseas Vietnamese company Thúy Nga and hosted by Nguyễn Ngọc Ngạn and Nguyễn Cao Kỳ Duyên, featuring musical performances by modern pop stars, traditional folk songs, one-act plays, and sketch comedy...
program.
- On 21 March 2006, Maura DavisMaura DavisMaura Davis was the lead singer of the American indie rock band Denali from Richmond, Virginia, United States, active from 2000 to 2004...
-fronted indie rockIndie rockIndie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band Ambulette released a cover of "If You Go Away" on their first EP, The Lottery.
- Barbra StreisandBarbra StreisandBarbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
recorded the song with both English and French lyrics for her 2009 album "Love Is the AnswerLove Is the Answer (album)Love Is the Answer is an album of jazz standards by Barbra Streisand released on September 29, 2009. The album was produced by Diana Krall and features Krall on piano. Orchestral arrangements are by Johnny Mandel, Anthony Wilson and Alan Broadbent. A deluxe edition contains a bonus disc featuring...
".
- Lesley GarrettLesley GarrettLesley Garrett CBE is an English musician, broadcaster and media personality.- Early life :Garrett was born in the town of Thorne near Doncaster in South Yorkshire, into a musical family. She attended Thorne Grammar School, where she performed in school plays and musicals. As she grew up she...
performed a version on her 2007 album When I Fall in Love. In her performance Garrett sang both in English and French (exception).
- Dax RiggsDax RiggsDax David Riggs , is an American musician from Houma, Louisiana, most well known for formerly fronting the sludge band Acid Bath in the 1990s. Dax has been a part of many projects since then, including Agents of Oblivion and Deadboy & the Elephantmen. In 2007 he began releasing material under his...
has been performing this song on his recent U.S. tour.
- Kim Weston recorded the English version.
- Julie ChristmasJulie ChristmasJulie Christmas is an American musician from Brooklyn, New York. She is the lead singer of Brooklyn-based noise rock band Made Out of Babies and the former lead singer of defunct post-metal supergroup Battle of Mice....
from the bands Battle of Mice and Made Out of Babies has recorded a demo version of the song later to be released on her solo album The Bad Wife.
- Belinda CarlisleBelinda CarlisleBelinda Jo Carlisle is an American singer who gained worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, one of the most successful all-female bands and the first such group whose members wrote their own songs and played their own instruments...
also recorded a version both in French and English on her album "Voilà"