What Will I Do When You're Gone
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THE STORY
What Will I Do When You’re Gone was written during one of the hardest periods of my life.
I wrote the lyrics while sitting beside my wife Karen’s hospice bed as she was losing her battle with cancer. Many of the moments in the song came directly from that experience — the silence, the fear, the memories, and the realization that life was about to change in ways I wasn’t ready for.
After her passing, the song became a way to process grief and put emotions into words that were otherwise difficult to say out loud.
This was also the first song I fully wrote on my own. Musically, I wanted it to stay honest and restrained. No dramatic production tricks — just a real story told as truthfully as I could tell it.
The song is rooted in the heartland rock and Americana influences I grew up on, built around storytelling, melody, and real-life experience.
More than anything, this song is about love, loss, memory, and learning how to keep moving forward after losing someone who shaped your entire life.
LYRICS
What will I do when you're gone?
I can't stand the night.
What will I do when I wake,
Without your hand in mine.
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What will I say when they ask?
I'll just fake a smile.
What will I do when I fall,
And I stay down awhile.
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What will I do when you're gone?
When the silence starts to bite.
What will I do when I reach,
And you're not there tonight.
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What will I do when the dawn,
Don't feel like mine?
What will I do when you're gone-
Without your hand in mine.
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What will I do with your voice,
Still in every song.
What will I do with the pain,
When it holds on this long.
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What will I do with your things?
Can't throw them away.
What will I do with the truth?
You're really gone today
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What will I do when you're gone?
When the darkness comes too soon.
What will I do when I wake,
In an empty room.
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What will I do when my heart,
Can't toe the line?
What will I do when you're gone-
Without your hand in mine.
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Maybe love's just a scar we wear,
That never fades away.
Maybe loss is just a silent prayer,
That we still say today.
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Maybe one day I'll move on,
But not tonight.
I'm still waiting for your hand,
to pull me back to life…
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What will I do when you're gone?
When the world moves on without.
What will I do when I call,
And you don't shout back out.
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What will I do when the stars,
Fall out of line?
What will I do when you're gone-
Without your hand in mine.
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What will I do when you're gone?
When the silence starts to bite.
What will I do when I reach,
And you're not there tonight.
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What will I do when the dawn,
Don't feel like mine?
What will I do when you're gone-
Without your hand in mine.
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What will I do when you're gone-
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What will I do when I reach,
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What will I do when I wake,
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What will I do when you're gone-
Without your hand in mine……