Don’t Go Away
Written in June of 2003 (and added to in 2007) by Michael Stover, David Wholihan & Michael Giammatteo

Don’t Go Away – is about helplessly watching your child drift away into autism. Aside from a few words (that only his parents could understand), Vico lost all of his language.  He stopped smiling & rarely engaged. His eyes got dull and unfocused. He didn’t respond to his name. He didn’t play with other children, in fact, he seemed to purposefully avoid them. We didn’t yet have a name for it, but something was going very wrong.
This song wasn’t originally written about my son. But, when putting together the CD I realized that I was missing an important piece of the story – the desperation of losing your child & not knowing why. I remembered this song & how it had the right emotional feel, so I wrote new lyrics.

The recording heard on the CD was done in the Spring of 2003, then finished up in 2007. The writing was my first and only attempt to write with two people at the same time. I found it very difficult as I didn’t know who to focus on. Communication can be pretty intense when writing a song with someone & I wasn’t able to maintain that with two people at once. But I think the results of that one-off collaboration are pretty good. It is certainly something that I would never have been able to write alone. The original recording was done to a drum track & contained Michael Stover’s bass & quite a few guitars played by both Michael & David. I recorded my vocals & did the odd, layered backing vocals. Michael surprised me by bringing Carl Jah (of Dread Zeppelin) by for a session. He laid down some blistering lead guitar tracks. And there it sat until 2007 when I did a new lead vocal & Matt laid down drums.

Musicians:
David: guitars
Michael: vocals
Matt: drums
Michael Stover: bass, guitars
Carl Jah: lead guitar

DON’T GO AWAY

Even now,  You won’t give me an answer
A silence enhancer
Has pulled you away somehow, Even now

Slip away, It’s just barely existence
Staring off in the distance
With not a word to say, Slip away

Don’t Go Away
Wish that I knew how, I could get you now, to stay

Break a heart, One less moment of irony
One more page in my diary
Tearing my world apart, Break a heart

Don’t Go Away
Wish that I knew how, I could get you now, to stay

Wish I could say I understand your need
Wish I could say I was resigned
But every day I stand and watch you leave
Watch me bleed

Don’t Go Away
Wish that I knew how, I could get you now, to stay

It’s too late – because you’re – gone now