She's Gone (song)

"She's Gone"
Single by Hall & Oates
from the album Abandoned Luncheonette
B-side	"I'm Just a Kid (Don't Make Me Feel Like a Man)"
Released	February 9, 1974 (re-released July 1976)
Format	7″
Recorded	1973
Genre	Soft rock, blue-eyed soul
Length	3:24 (single version) 5:15 (album version)
Label	Atlantic
Writer(s)	Daryl Hall and John Oates
Producer(s)	Arif Mardin
Hall & Oates singles chronology
"Good Night & Good Morning" (1972) "She's Gone" (1974) "When the Morning Comes" (1974)
"Sara Smile" (1976) "She's Gone" (reissue) (1976) "Do What You Want, Be What You Are" (1976)

"She's Gone" is a song written and originally performed by pop music duo Daryl Hall and John Oates. It was included on their 1973 album, Abandoned Luncheonette.

Hall & Oates version

The song was released as a single (Atlantic 2993) in 1974. It was a major hit in Hall & Oates' home market of Philadelphia and was moderately successful nationally, peaking at #60 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Two years later in 1976, after Hall & Oates had moved to RCA Records and had scored with the hit "Sara Smile," Atlantic Records re-released the original single under a different number (Atlantic 3332). This time "She's Gone" was a hit, peaking at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. On the R&B chart, the song peaked at #93.^[1]

John Oates spoke of the song in a 2009 interview with American Songwriter: "I sat down with the guitar and sang the chorus of 'She's Gone' basically the way that it is. Then I played it for Daryl because I didn't have anything else. It just happened. I said, 'Hey, I’ve got this really great chorus.' And we wrote the verses together. 'She’s Gone' is a song that endures."

Chart performance

Promotional video

An odd promotional video for "She's Gone" was produced. This video opens with shots of the "abandoned luncheonette" (see note about Album Cover on Abandoned Luncheonette), in which Hall & Oates sit in recliners, Hall wearing a robe and women's platform sandals, Oates wearing a sleeveless tuxedo shirt and pants, and singing the song while a woman in a long dress and a man dressed in a shiny red devil's costume repeatedly walk past the pair. Towards the end of the video, Oates rises, dons a jacket with long cuffs, and proceeds to perform his guitar solo with his hands completely covered by the sleeves of his jacket, which makes it appear as if he has fish fins for hands.

Tavares version

In 1974, the American R&B band Tavares covered the song for their album, Hard Core Poetry. The song became a hit, topping the U.S. R&B chart and peaking at #50 on the Hot 100.^[2]

Chart performance

Other versions

Lou Rawls recorded a version for his 1974 album which shares the title of the song. Dee Dee Bridgewater recorded the song as "He's Gone" for her 1976 eponymous debut album.

In 1998, the song was covered by Matthew Marsden featuring Destiny's Child.

In 2000, Jacksoul covered the song on their album Sleepless.

In 2008, Hall and Oates themselves sang a parody of the song entitled "He's Gone", about Alan Colmes leaving the show Hannity & Colmes, for The Daily Show.

In 2010, The Bird and the Bee covered the song for their tribute album Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates.

In 2012, Emm Gryner released a cover of the song for her EP She's Gone: A Hall & Oates Tribute EP.

Usage in media

Their version of the song was featured for The Bird and the Bee in the Halloween episode of "Outsourced" (Season 1 Episode 6), when Asha and Todd were slow dancing.

A version of the song was sung during a sketch on Late Night With Conan O'Brien by O'Brien and his house band. The sketch featured Conan's longtime trumpet player Richie "LaBamba" Rosenberg being so upset by Conan's glowing reception for Rosenberg's replacement for the previous week that he left the studio. Heartbroken, Conan starts to sing a version of the song titled "He's Gone", while a montage of LaBamba leaving the studio and living on the streets of New York played. After being forced to eat his own trumpet, LaBamba returns to the studio, which Conan responds to with a more triumphant reprise of the song titled "He's Back."

She's Gone is also featured in the 2004 movie "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy."

Dan Dorian (played by Tom Cavanaugh) sings a sorrowful version of the song in the Scrubs episode "My Common Enemy" after Elliot breaks up with him.

References

External links

• Hall & Oates song review on AllMusic
• Tavares song review on AllMusic