Behind the Song: Hall & Oates, “She’s Gone”

Released on the 1973 album, Abandoned Luncheonette, the soaring and forlorn ballad, “She’s Gone,” is one of the more personal songs for the popular and platinum-selling 1970s soul duo, Hall & Oates. Written in the group’s upper eastside New York City home apartment, “She’s Gone” was inspired by real heartbreak and buoyed by the comradery of deep friendship that’s often needed to get over a pain in order to move forward with life.

The song begins with a floating keyboard and a light snare. A thumping bass line quickly comes in next – bum-bum, bum-bum. An electric lead guitar and a wa-wa rhythm enter to back up the growing melody. Now the stage is set, the mood is open. Soon, two pretty voices come in together, unified. But all of this build up is a preface to the beautiful, soaring chorus, which acts as much as a release of strike as it does a song’s hook: “She’s gooooone! Oooooh why! I better learn how to face it!”

Even though the song was written nearly five decades ago, the feeling of loss expressed in the lyrics is as poignant now as it was in the era it was composed. We caught up with John Oates, one of the writers of the timeless “She’s Gone,” who is also, of course, one of the co-founders of Hall & Oates. We asked him about the origin of the song, how the duo felt once the epic tune was complete, how the recording process influenced the final track, and whether “She’s Gone” is the best song the successful friends has ever written.