George Michael Live at C2C Tour “They won’t go... “

"They Won't Go When I Go" is a song co-written and performed by Stevie Wonder 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 Lowrene Wright, who co-wrote songs with Wonder for other albums. Wright's sister, Syreeta Wright, was Wonder's first wife. Wonder performed this song, along with "Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer", at Michael Jackson'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 technique—a repeating bassline in a minor key and in triple metre—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. Many consider this song to be a dark consequence of Stevie's 1973 car accident. The harmonic progression is very similar to Chopin's Etude Opus 10 number 4, measures 5 and 6, although at a much slower tempo. Covers George Michael covered the song for his second solo album, Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 in 1990. Camille recorded it for her second studio album, I Sing Stevie: The Stevie Wonder Songbook in 2014, which received an Independent Music Award nomination for Best Tribute Album. Chance the Rapper did a cover of it as part of a surprise NPR Tiny Desk Concert in early June 2017. Lirycs: No more lying friends Wanting tragic ends Though they do pretend They won't go when I go All those bleeding hearts With sorrows to impart Were right here from the start And they won't go when I go And I'll go where I've longed To go so long Away from tears Gone from painful cries Away from saddened eyes Along with him I'll bide They won't go when I go Big men feeling small Weak ones standing tall I will watch them fall They won't go when I go And I'll go where I've longed To go so long Away from tears Unclean minds mislead the pure The innocent will leave for sure For them there is a resting place People sinning just for fun They will never see the sun For they can never show their faces There ain't no room for the hopeless sinner Who will take more than he will give He will give He will give He ain't hardly gonna give The greed of man will be Far away from me And my soul will be free They won't go when I go Since my soul conceived All that I believe The kingdom I will see 'Cause they won't go when I go When I go Where I'll go No one can keep me From my destiny ?