"When I'm Dead and Gone" is a song written by

Benny Gallagher Bernard Joseph "Benny" Gallagher (born 10 June 1945, in Largs, Ayrshire) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, most famous as half of the popular duo Gallagher and Lyle. Career The son of Irish parents, Gallagher atten ...

and

Graham Lyle Graham Hamilton Lyle (born 11 March 1944, in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. Between 1970 and 1997, he co-wrote 18 British Top 40 hits, 9 ''Billboard'' Hot 100 entries, 4 US Country No ...

Background

"When I'm Dead and Gone" was one of the first hit singles to feature prominent use of

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

, played by Lyle, who also took lead vocal. Gallagher played

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

and sang tenor harmony, while both he and Lyle also played kazoos and guitarist Tom McGuinness played the

dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

solo. According to McGuinness, "You can get to number one in England and sell 200,000 total. But he single's releasewas over Christmas and it sold 400,000 ... it sold a couple of hundred thousand in America, 100,000 in Germany, 50,000 in Japan." After Gallagher and Lyle left the group and enjoyed a successful career as a duo, they featured the song regularly on stage - though usually in the lower key of C, rather than the original key of D, and eschewing kazoos in favour of a

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

, which Gallagher used on a harness. This treatment of the song can be heard on the duo's 1999 album ''Live In Concert''.

Chart performance

It was recorded and released in November 1970 as the debut single by

McGuinness Flint McGuinness Flint was a rock band formed in 1970 by Tom McGuinness (musician), Tom McGuinness, a bassist and guitarist with Manfred Mann, and Hughie Flint, former drummer with John Mayall; plus vocalist and keyboard player Dennis Coulson, and mul ...

, peaked at No. 2 in the UK charts the following month, and reached No. 47 in the US charts in February 1971. The song also peaked at No.5 in Ireland, No. 6 in West Germany, No. 39 in Australia and No.34 in Canada.

References

1970 singles Songs written by Benny Gallagher Songs written by Graham Lyle Gallagher and Lyle songs 1970 songs Capitol Records singles Song recordings produced by Glyn Johns {{1970s-single-stub