If you go away- Terry Jacks

Terry Jacks (born March 29, 1944, Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer and environmentalist.
Jacks and Susan Pesklevits married in 1968 and burst onto the national charts in 1969 with their debut album, Which Way You Goin' Billy? which was written and produced by Jacks. The 45rpm single went to No. 1 in Canada and reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts in the United States, selling over three million copies. The single was the first million-selling record ever recorded in British Columbia.
Susan and Terry produced two more albums before the marriage ended, Susan's first solo album "I Thought Of You Again" and Terry's "Seasons in the Sun." They had worked with the Beach Boys to record the song Seasons In The Sun but the project was never finished so it was decided Jacks would record the song himself. Released in 1973 on his own record label, Goldfish Records, the song became the largest-selling international single by a Canadian artist and earned Jacks four Juno Awards. The song was based on an original called "Le moribond" by Jacques Brel with lyrics and melody modified by Jacks. In the United States, where it was released on Bell Records, the song went to No. 1 on the charts. He released two more singles entitled If You Go Away (another English-language version of a Jaques Brel song entitled "Ne Me Quitte Pas") and "Rock & Roll (I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life)", both of which had more impact in Canada but had some success on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the USA.
"If You Go Away" is a song in English based upon the French song "Ne Me Quitte Pas" (1959), written by Jacques Brel. The English lyrics were written by Rod McKuen as part of a larger project to translate Brel's work. "If You Go Away" is considered a pop standard and has been recorded by many artists, including Greta Keller, for whom some say McKuen wrote the lyrics. Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones, Brenda Lee, Shirley Bassey, Daliah Lavi, Marc Almond, Emilíana Torrini, Neil Diamond, Scott Walker, Farhad Mehrad, Dusty Springfield, Violetta Villas and Cyndi Lauper have also recorded versions of it, with several of the numerous versions becoming hits and achieving success on the charts. The complex melody is partly derivative of classical music - the poignant "But if you stay..." passage comes from Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 3.


LYRICS:

If you go away On a summer day ,
Then you might as well ,Keep the sun away
All the birds that flew ,In the summer sky
And our lovers knew ,And our hearts were high
And the days were young ,And the nights were long
And the moon stood still ,With the night birds song

If you go away , If you go away, If you go away

But if you stay ,I'll make you a day
Like no day has been ,Or will be again
Well sail on suns ,Well ride on the rain
Well talk to the trees ,Well fly with the wind

But if you go away ,And I love you so
They'll be nothing left ,In the world you know
Just an empty moon ,Full of empty space
Like an empty look ,I see on your face

If you go away , If you go away, If you go away

But if you stay,Ill make you a day
Like no day has been ,Or will be again
Well sail the suns ,Well ride on the rain
Well talk to the trees ,Well fly with the wind

If you go away , If you go away, If you go away