"She Wouldn't Be Gone" is the title of a song written by Jennifer Adan and Corey Batten, and recorded by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 singer Blake Shelton

Blake Shelton

Blake Tollison Shelton is an American country music artist. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin". Released as the lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" went on to spend five weeks at Number One on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts...

. It is his fourteenth single, and the first release from his fifth studio album, Startin' Fires

Startin' Fires

-Critical reception:CM Wilcox of The 9513 gave the album 3.5 stars out of 5. He referred to the material on the album as "consistent" but states that the album takes few chances...

, which was released on November 18, 2008. The song became his fifth Number One song on the Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

 chart for the weeks of February 7–14, 2009.

Content

"She Wouldn't Be Gone" is a mid-tempo in which the male narrator reflects on his relationship and a lover who has just left him. He expresses regret over having not attempted to keep her from leaving, saying that if he had tried to keep her (by bringing her flowers, watching sunsets with her, and paying attention to her needs), "maybe she wouldn't be gone".

Cory Batten, one of the writers of the song, came up with the opening stanza ("Red roadside wildflower, if I had only picked you / Took you home and set you on the counter / Oh, at least a time or two / Maybe she'd have thought it through") after seeing a patch of red wildflowers outside his window. Adan said that she wanted the song's narrator to have a "feeling of desperation" by realizing after the fact what he should have done to keep his lover from leaving. When he recorded the song, Shelton said that he had "been able to dump more emotion into that vocal" than any of his previous material.

Critical reception

The song received a "thumbs down" review from the country music site The 9513. Reviewer Brady Vercher states that "Shelton's phrasing and breathing are awkward enough to not make the song easily memorable or singable, decreasing its chances at chart success." Allmusic critic Steve Leggett considered it the strongest track on Startin' Fires, saying that it was "a brilliant portrayal of a man who finally finds his passion and love for a woman when it's way too late and she's already gone, and the chorus swells to passionate, almost white-knuckle perfection. It's a great song and Shelton gives it everything."

Chart positions

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Chart (2008-2009)	Peak position