"You're Gone" is a song written by Paul Williams and

Jon Vezner Jon Vezner (born June 6, 1951) is an American country music songwriter. He is best known for his work with Kathy Mattea, to whom he has been married since 1988. Vezner began working as a songwriter in Minnesota and later moved to Nashville, Tenne ...

, and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

group

Diamond Rio Diamond Rio is an American country music band. The band was founded in 1982 as an attraction for the Opryland USA theme park in Nashville, Tennessee, and was originally known as the Grizzly River Boys, then the Tennessee River Boys. It was foun ...

. It was released in June 1998 as the lead-off single from their album '' Unbelievable''. It peaked at number 4 in the United States and number 5 in Canada, in the Country charts of both territories.

Content

According to co-writer Paul Williams, the song came about when he and Vezner were discussing the death of one of Williams' old friends,

Tom Jans Tom Jans (February 9, 1948 – March 25, 1984) was an American folk singer-songwriter and guitarist from San Jose, California. He is perhaps best known for his song "Loving Arms" (also known as "Lovin' Arms"), which was recorded initially by Kris ...

, as well as other people who influenced their lives.

Critical reception

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' wrote, "

and Paul Williams have written a song that grabs the listeners by the ears immediately with the opening lines "I said hello I think I'm broken/And though I was only jokin'/It took me by surprise when you agreed/I was trying to be clever/For the life of me I never/Would have guessed how far the simple truth would lead." This is an incredible song, and

lead vocalist Marty Roe delivers the powerful poetry in a voice that perfectly conveys the complex emotions in the lyric. The production by the talented Mike Clute and the Rio boys is clean and uncluttered, letting the vocal and piano drive home the impact of the lyric. This is just the first single from a great new

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

that shows these guys plan to hang on to that Country Music Assn. vocal group trophy they recaptured last fall."

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the song was directed by Peter Zavadil, and premiered in mid-1998.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

1998 singles Diamond Rio songs Songs written by Paul Williams (songwriter) Music videos directed by Peter Zavadil Arista Nashville singles 1998 songs Songs written by Jon Vezner {{1998-country-song-stub