If You're Gone

"If You're Gone"
Single by Matchbox Twenty
from the album Mad Season
Released	October 3, 2000
Format	CD cassette
Recorded	1999
Genre	Pop rock
Length	4:34
Label	Atlantic
Writer(s)	Rob Thomas
Producer(s)	Matt Serletic
Matchbox Twenty singles chronology
"Bent" (2000) "If You're Gone" (2000) "Mad Season" (2001)

"If You're Gone" is a song by the rock band Matchbox Twenty. It was released in October 2000 as the second single off Mad Season. The song, written by Matchbox Twenty frontman Rob Thomas, became a hit on adult contemporary radio, spending two weeks at number 1 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart.^[1] It also reached number 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, the band's second best-ranking song, preceded by the single "Bent" from the same album.^[1] Rob Thomas never dreamed of the song going out on an album, let alone being a huge success. The horn-driven outro of "If You're Gone" borrows heavily (note for note) from "When the Rainbow Comes" by World Party from their 1990 release Goodbye Jumbo.

Background and writing

Thomas told Billboard magazine that he wrote the song right after he met his future wife. "We were separated for a few weeks and were on the phone all the time, and I was thinking, 'I met this wonderful person,' and I wondered if everything I was going through [with Matchbox Twenty's success] was going to make it too crazy to build a relationship."^[2]

Music video

The music video for the song, directed by Pedro Romhanyi, is filmed completely in black and white and features only the band (along with two trumpet players and a trombone player), performing at night on the rooftop of a building in the central business district of downtown Los Angeles. Halfway through the video, Rob Thomas steps onto the edge of the roof and spreads his arms like he's going to jump. He doesn't; he turns around and goes back to where the band is playing. Near the end of the video, the sun dawns and illuminates the rooftop and surrounding buildings of the city.

Track listing

• Australia Maxi-CD

1. "If You're Gone" – 4:38
2. "Bent" (live) – 4:38
3. "Back 2 Good" (live) – 6:09

Chart positions

References