"I Walk Away" is a song written by

Neil Finn Neil Mullane Finn (born 27 May 1958) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician who is known for being a member of Crowded House, Split Enz (which he co-fronted with brother Tim), and Fleetwood Mac. Finn rose to prominence in the late ...

, and originally recorded by Finn's group

Split Enz Split Enz were a New Zealand rock band formed in Auckland in 1972 by Tim Finn and Phil Judd and had a variety of other members during its existence. Originally started as a folk-oriented group with quirky art rock stylings, the band built a ...

. It was released in September 1984 as the lead single from their tenth and final studio album ''

See Ya 'Round ''See Ya 'Round'' is the tenth and final studio album by New Zealand's premier new wave band, Split Enz, and was released in 1984, following the departure of founding member Tim Finn, whose solo career had officially taken off the year before. ...

'', and was a chart hit in New Zealand and Australia. Finn's next group,

Crowded House Crowded House are a rock band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 1985. Its founding members were New Zealander Neil Finn (vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter) and Australians Paul Hester (drums) and Nick Seymour (bass). Later ban ...

, re-recorded the song for the North American version of their self-titled debut album of 1986. (''See Ya 'Round'' was not issued in the U.S., and therefore the song "I Walk Away" was new to U.S. audiences.) "I Walk Away" was not included on the original Australian/NZ release of ''Crowded House'', but all later re-issues of the album in all countries include "I Walk Away" as a standard track. The Crowded House version of the song is slightly rewritten from the original Split Enz version, and features a different verse. Finn sings both the Split Enz and Crowded House versions of "I Walk Away", and

Paul Hester Paul Newell Hester (8 January 1959 – 26 March 2005) was an Australian musician and television personality. He was the drummer for the band Split Enz for a short time in 1984, and co-founding member and drummer of the rock group Crowded House ...

(who was a member of both groups) was the drummer on both.

Reception

Reviewing the Crowded House version,

Junkee Junkee is an Australian popular culture and news website run by new media company Junkee Media. It covers various topics including film, university, food, TV, politics, travel, career, health and Internet culture. Its target demographic is 18- to ...

said, "There's something zeitgeisty about this one — it feels like U2 at their hungriest, propulsive and urgent in its delivery. Hester puts on a showcase of tension and release, while Seymour holds down the low-end and Finn executes some truly underrated guitar work."

Track listing

12" vinyl

;Side A #"I Walk Away (Extended Version)" ;Side B #"Doctor Love"

7" vinyl

#"I Walk Away" 3:49 #"Over Drive" 3:43

Personnel

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Eddie Rayner Anthony Edward Charles Rayner (born 19 November 1952) is a New Zealand musician who spent twelve years as a keyboardist in the band Split Enz. He has also played in the groups Orb, Space Waltz, Crowded House, The Makers, The Angels in 1986-198 ...

- keyboards,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, backing vocals *

Noel Crombie Geoffrey Noel Crombie (born 17 April 1953) is a New Zealand percussionist and former member of the band Split Enz. He fulfilled multiple roles including costume and hair designer, singer, album cover designer, and music video director. Prior to ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Nigel Griggs Nigel Griggs (born 18 August 1949) is a musician who played bass guitar in Split Enz. He is the brother of Paul Griggs from the 1970s vocal group Guys 'n' Dolls. A professional musician since 1963, Nigel Griggs played in a number of bands, nota ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Charts

References

{{authority control Songs about parting Split Enz songs 1984 singles Songs written by Neil Finn 1984 songs Mushroom Records singles