"Don't Go" | ||||
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![]() Artwork for 12-inch remix vinyl release | ||||
Single by Yazoo | ||||
from the album Upstairs at Eric's | ||||
B-side | "Winter Kills" | |||
Released | 2 July 1982 [1] | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 2:53 | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) | Vince Clarke | |||
Producer(s) |
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Yazoo singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Don't Go" on YouTube |
"Don't Go" is a song by British synth-pop band Yazoo (known in the US and Canada as Yaz). It was released in 1982 as the second single from their debut album, Upstairs at Eric's (20 August 1982). The song peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Yazoo's second top 5 hit. In the US, where the band was known as Yaz, the song was their second big hit on the American dance chart, where it spent two weeks at number one in October 1982. Their first American dance chart hit was "Situation", which had also gone to number one on this chart earlier the same year. The music video for the song features band members Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke in a sort of haunted mansion with Clarke cast in the role of Victor Frankenstein. The song re-entered the UK Dance Chart on 13 December 2009 at number 30, peaking at number 15 on 2 January 2010.
Ian Birch of Smash Hits considered "Don't Go" to be a "sharp successor" to "Only You". He commented: "Vince coaxes a sterling song out of his synthesizer while Alf balances its metallic clip with a deep, emotion-packed vocal that gets better with every hearing". [5]
Note 1: "Winter Kills," the B-side to this single, is explicitly listed as "Not re-mixed" and "Not extended" on the album sleeve
Note 2: The US 12" single mis-prints the track lengths on the record, listing the "Re-mix" as 5:08 and the "Re-re-mix" as 3:20
Note 3:On Some releases both Mixes of Don't Go were combined into / shown as one track with a length of 8:28
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
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Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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United Kingdom (BPI) [38] | Silver | 250,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
The following artists have produced covers of or sampled the song:
"Don't Go" | ||||
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Single by Starting Rock featuring Diva Avari | ||||
Released | 2006 | |||
Length | 3:27 | |||
Label | 541 | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) |
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Starting Rock featuring Diva Avari singles chronology | ||||
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The song was covered and remixed by French project Starting Rock featuring Diva Avari. It was released in December 2006 as a single and had modest success in Europe. It reached the top 10 in Finland.
The music video depicts a male at a club dancing with women. He meets Diva Avari, who has her eyes set on him and he cannot escape her throughout their time at the club.
Chart (2006) | Peak position |
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Belgium (Ultratip Bubbling Under Flanders) [50] | 10 |
Belgium (Ultratip Bubbling Under Wallonia) [51] | 10 |
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista) [52] | 3 |
France (SNEP) [53] | 24 |
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) [54] | 34 |
Netherlands (Single Top 100) [55] | 42 |
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Situation," followed by "Don't Go," two synth-pop dance jams from the singer's Yazoo days that, sadly, sounded out of place
Three decades after they were recorded, Alison Moyet's smoldering vocals can still be heard on the radio singing Yazoo's era-defining new wave hits "Only You" and "Don't Go."