"They Won't Go When I Go" is a song co-written and performed by

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

from his 1974 album '' Fulfillingness' First Finale''. This song is the only one on the album that Wonder did not write by himself. His co-writer was Yvonne Wright, who co-wrote songs with Wonder for other albums. Wonder performed this song, along with " Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer", at

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

's memorial service on July 7, 2009.

Composition

The song has been considered a "retro composition", where comparisons of the piano part to the style of Chopin and the Baroque passacaglia or

chaconne A chaconne ( , ; ; ; earlier English: chacony) is a type of musical composition often used as a vehicle for Variation (music), variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line (ground bass ...

technique—a repeating bassline in a minor key and in

triple metre Triple metre (or Am. triple meter, also known as triple time) is a musical metre characterized by a ''primary'' division of 3 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 3 (simple) or 9 ( compound) in the upper figure of the time signature, with , a ...

—can be drawn. The song is also noted to have a "funeral march" like tone. There is clear allusion to the 1850 German chorale tune "O mein Jesu," the setting of Thomas Kelly's 1805 Protestant hymn "Stricken, smitten, and afflicted." Critics noted that the song takes a more dramatic tone than most of Wonder's other compositions. The fact that the song specifically says "They won't go ''when'' I go" was said to imply the friends Wonder is talking about may get to heaven eventually, just not before he does. Interpreted more broadly as a hymn, the song is the cry not just of Wonder, but the faithful in general, awaiting a second coming where they are taken and others are not. Many consider this song to be a dark consequence of Wonder's 1973 car accident.

Covers

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

covered the song for his second solo album, '' Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1'', in 1990. *

Josh Groban Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. His first four solo albums have been certified multi-platinum, and he was charted in 2007 as the number-one best selling artist in the United States, ...

covered the song on the Japanese bonus track edition of his fifth studio album, '' Illuminations'', in 2010. *

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

opened his set at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

's "Party in the Garden" event with a cover of the song on May 10, 2011. * Camille recorded the song for her second studio album, ''I Sing Stevie: The Stevie Wonder Songbook'', which received an Independent Music Award nomination for Best Tribute Album, in 2014. *

Chance the Rapper Chancelor Johnathan Bennett (born April 16, 1993), known professionally as Chance the Rapper, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, he released his debut mixtape '' 10 Day'' (2012) during one of his high school suspension ...

did a cover of the song as part of a surprise

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

Tiny Desk Concert in early June 2017.

References

Stevie Wonder songs George Michael songs Songs written by Stevie Wonder Soul ballads 1974 songs Song recordings produced by Stevie Wonder {{1970s-single-stub