"Don't Leave Me Now" is a song by

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

. It appears on ''

The Wall ''The Wall'' is the eleventh studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 30 November 1979 by Harvest/EMI and Columbia/CBS Records. It is a rock opera that explores Pink, a jaded rock star whose eventual self-imp ...

'' album (1979) and was released as a B-side on the

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

of "

Run Like Hell "Run Like Hell" is a song by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, written by David Gilmour and Roger Waters. It appears on the album ''The Wall''. It was released as a single in 1980, reaching #15 in the Canadian singles chart as well as ...

". A 12" single of "Run Like Hell," "Don't Leave Me Now" and "

Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) "Another Brick in the Wall" is a three-part composition on Pink Floyd's 1979 rock opera ''The Wall,'' written by bassist Roger Waters. "Part 2", a protest song against corporal punishment, and rigid and abusive schooling, features a childre ...

" peaked at #57 on the

Disco Top 100 Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as th ...

chart in the U.S.

Composition

The main section of "Don't Leave Me Now", recorded with synthesizer bass, organ, piano, and a

delay Delay (from Latin: dilatio) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Delay 1968'', a 1981 album by German experimental rock band Can * ''The Delay'', a 2012 Uruguayan film People * B. H. DeLay (1891–1923), American aviator and acto ...

-treated guitar, does not adhere to one single

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

, but rather cycles slowly through four

dissonant In music, consonance and dissonance are categorizations of simultaneous or successive Sound, sounds. Within the Western tradition, some listeners associate consonance with sweetness, pleasantness, and acceptability, and dissonance with harshness ...

and seemingly-unrelated chords, for two measures of each: An E augmented chord, followed by a D flat

major seventh chord In music, a major seventh chord is a seventh chord in which the third is a major third above the root and the seventh is a major seventh above the root. The major seventh chord, sometimes also called a ''Delta chord'', can be written as maj7, M7, , ...

, a B flat

dominant seventh chord In music theory, a dominant seventh chord, or major minor seventh chord, is a seventh chord, usually built on the fifth degree of the major scale, and composed of a root, major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh. Thus it is a major triad tog ...

with a suspended second, followed by a G Major chord, which, after one bar, augments its fifth, before returning to the beginning of the progression. The first three chords all sustain the notes G♯/A♭ and C, and this interval is then lowered chromatically by one

semitone A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between two adjacent no ...

for the conclusion on G Major. Furthermore, the

roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...

of this chord progression (E, D♭, B♭, and G) outline the intervals of a

diminished seventh chord The diminished seventh chord is a four-note chord (a seventh chord) composed of a root note, together with a minor third, a diminished fifth, and a diminished seventh above the root: (1, 3, 5, 7). For example, the diminished seventh ...

. The roots relate to each other as a pair of

tritone In music theory, the tritone is defined as a musical interval composed of three adjacent whole tones (six semitones). For instance, the interval from F up to the B above it (in short, F–B) is a tritone as it can be decomposed into the three a ...

s - the E and B♭ form one tritone, and the D♭ and G form the other. Musicologist and author Phil Rose described this section of the song as "entirely non-functional harmonically" and stated that " st of the time when a phrase ends, Waters is either singing one of the most dissonant notes in the accompanying chord, or a

non-chord tone A nonchord tone (NCT), nonharmonic tone, or embellishing tone is a note in a piece of music or song that is not part of the implied or expressed chord set out by the harmonic framework. In contrast, a chord tone is a note that is a part of the ...

."Rose, Phil. ''Which One's Pink? An Analysis of the Concept Albums of Roger Waters and Pink Floyd''. Collector's Guide Publishing Inc. S /ref> There is no percussion, and the

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

is very slow. In the second section,

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 ...

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 ...

, and

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 ...

enter, and the music becomes more

consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wit ...

, resolving to the key of

A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: : Changes ...

through the use of D and A suspended

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

chords, as

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1967, shortly before the departure of founding member Syd Barrett. P ...

sings a refrain of "Ooh, babe".

Plot

''The Wall'' tells the story of Pink, an alienated and embittered rock star. At this point in the album's narrative, Pink has discovered his wife's infidelity. He invites a groupie to his hotel room in L.A., during his American tour and destroys the hotel room in a fit of rage, scaring the groupie away. Pink falls into a depression. Despite the dysfunctionality of the marriage, he listlessly pleads with his wife not to leave him, stating ''"I need you, babe / To put through the shredder in front of my friends"''. Waters, in a 1980 interview with

Jim Ladd Jim Ladd (born January 17, 1948), an American disc jockey, radio producer and writer, is one of the few notable remaining freeform rock DJs in United States commercial radio. Ladd first gained national prominence as host of the hour long, natio ...

, described this song as being about "two people who have treated each other very badly", yet are devastated at the prospect of their relationship ending. He also stated during the 1992 US radio special ''Pink Floyd: The 25th Anniversary Special'' that the lyrics had nothing to do with his personal life, as he had a more cordial relationship with his wife in real life than Pink did.

Film version

The song begins with a close-up of the debris in Pink's hotel room, then switches over to the hotel's pool, where Pink is seen floating in a crucifix position. Having cut open his right hand during his violent outburst, his blood stains the pool water. What follows is a fantasy sequence in which Pink watches '' The Dam Busters'' on TV in a much larger, and entirely empty, hotel room. The shadow of Pink's wife emerges on the back wall before materialising into a

praying mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They ha ...

-like monster, which then transforms into the

vulva The vulva (plural: vulvas or vulvae; derived from Latin for wrapper or covering) consists of the external sex organ, female sex organs. The vulva includes the mons pubis (or mons veneris), labia majora, labia minora, clitoris, bulb of vestibu ...

-shaped flower from "What Shall We Do Now?". The song ends with Pink cowering in the corner of the room, tortured by both the imaginary mantis in front of him, and thoughts of his wife's

adultery Adultery (from Latin ''adulterium'') is extramarital sex that is considered objectionable on social, religious, moral, or legal grounds. Although the sexual activities that constitute adultery vary, as well as the social, religious, and legal ...

Personnel

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. In 1965, he co-founded the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. Waters initially served as the bassist, but following the departure of singer-so ...

–

EMS VCS 3 The VCS 3 (or VCS3; an initialism for ''Voltage Controlled Studio, version #3'') is a portable analog synthesizer with a flexible modular voice architecture introduced by Electronic Music Studios (London) Limited (EMS) in 1969. EMS released ...

synthesizer, lead vocals (verses), harmony vocals (outro segment) *

– guitars, bass guitar, lead vocals (outro segment), breathing * Richard Wright – bass pedals,

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

, piano,

Prophet-5 The Prophet-5 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the American company Sequential (company), Sequential. It was designed by Dave Smith (engineer), Dave Smith and John S. Bowen (sound designer), John Bowen in 1977, who used Microprocessor, m ...

synthesizer *

Nick Mason Nicholas Berkeley Mason, (born 27 January 1944) is an English drummer and a founder member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. He is the only member to feature on every Pink Floyd album, and the only constant member since its formation in ...

– drums Personnel per Fitch and Mahon.Fitch, Vernon and Mahon, Richard, ''Comfortably Numb — A History of The Wall 1978–1981'', 2006, p. 87.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Don't Leave Me Now 1979 songs Pink Floyd songs Songs written by Roger Waters Song recordings produced by Bob Ezrin Song recordings produced by David Gilmour Song recordings produced by Roger Waters Songs about loneliness