If you go away on a summer day
(or on any party-ordained day)

Then you might as well
take the sun away
(as some folks out yonder
depend on you and yours
even cartoonists satirists
and other honourables and the like)

All the birds that flew
in the summer sky

When our love was new
and our hearts were high
When the day was young
and the night was long

And the moon stood still
for the night bird’s song

(And you were visited late
by a kanga-wearing citizens
unaccompanied and way past
our ritual 16 days of activism)

If you go away if you go away if you go away
But if you stay we’ll make you a day
Like no day has been or will be again

(Feet up in front of a roaring fire
chickens all roosted for the night
the many wives tucked in
in the required pecking order)

We’ll sail the sun we’ll ride on the rain
We’ll talk to the trees and worship the wind
(if we could ever be so junk-free happy)

Then if you go we’ll more than understand
Leave us just enough love to fill up our coffers
(have we not tired of the pay-back-the-money refrain)

If you go away if you go away if you go away

This song was an adaptation of Jacques Brel’s 1959 ditty Ne me quitte pas, with Rod McKuen doing the English lyrics.