Everytime You Go Away

Album

Secret of Association, The

Label

Columbia Records

Genre

Soft Rock

Duration

10:00

Composer(s)

Daryl Hall

Entered Chart

May 11, 1985

Peak Date

Jul 27, 1985

Released

February 25, 1985

Recorded

1984

Catalog #

Columbia 04867

B-Side

This Means Anything

This was written by Daryl Hall and originally recorded by Hall & Oates for the duo's 1980 album, Voices, but was not released as a single; Young's version became a hit nearly five years later. In the October 16, 2009 issue of Entertainment Weekly, Daryl Hall listed this as one of his favorite Hall & Oates songs and explained: "Paul Young had a pop hit with it a few years after we released it. It's just one of those songs. I feel very proud of its craftsmanship." This was the biggest hit for Young. He contributed to Band Aid in 1984 and had hits with covers of R&B classics "Oh Girl" and "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted." This song became one of the biggest hits with a grammar gaffe in the title. "Everytime" is not a word, so it should read "Every Time You Go Away." Young could point the finger at songwriter Daryl Hall or just enjoy the company of other grammatically questionable songs. The video was one of the first directed by Nick Morris, who soon after did the iconic video for Europe's "The Final Countdown." In our interview with Morris, he explained: "Paul Young, I'd seen him loads of times as a student because he used to play all these club nights at universities and so on. I knew he was a really good live, sweaty, rock and roll guy, and I wanted to capture that. That's why we used the slow motion, that's why we used the backstage stuff." Creating a video for a mid-tempo song that showcases the artist was not an easy task, but the slow motion, desaturated look with lots of candid shots worked very well. This style was copied by a number of other artists, notably Bon Jovi in their video for "Wanted Dead Or Alive." Clay Aiken covered this on his 2006 album, A Thousand Different Ways. Young's success with the song didn't produce any sour grapes for Daryl Hall, who credited him with tapping into the commercial potential he failed to see the first time around. Hall told Music Connection: "I never thought of it any other way than the way it was 'til Paul Young did it ... I was just doin' a kind of gospel/soul song; that was all I had in mind for it. I was really surprised to hear the production they did because it kept the elements but commercialized it - made it sound like a pop record." Hall and Young performed this as an extended duet at a New York show in 1985. In a 2014 Songfacts interview, Daryl Hall said he still counts this as one of his favorite covers of a Hall & Oates song. The Hall & Oates version of this song is featured in the 2009 romantic comedy The Rebound, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Justin Bartha.

Hey!, if we can solve any problem
Then why do we lose so many tears
Oh, and so you go again
When the leading man appears
Always the same thing
Can't you see, we've got everything goin' on and on and on

Every time you go away you take a piece of me with you
Every time you go away you take a piece of me with you

Go on and go free, yeah
Maybe you're too close to see
I can feel your body move
It doesn't mean that much to me
I can't go on sayin' the same thing
Just can't you see, we've got everything do you even know we know

Every time you go away you take a piece of me with you, oh
Every time you go away you take a piece of me with you

I can't go on sayin' the same thing
'Cause baby, can'tcha see, we've got everything goin' on and on and on

Every time you go away you take a piece of me with you
Every time you go away you take a piece of me with you

Looking at the pieces (Every time you go away)
Be careful (You take a piece of me with you)
(Every time you go away) Every time you go, every time you go
(You take a piece of me with you) You take a piece of me!
(Every time you go away you take a piece of me with you) Every time you go!