If you leave me now you’ll take away the biggest part of me.

“If You Leave Me Now” is a very “Chicago” sounding song. Chicago is known for using a lot of brass instruments on their songs and “If You Leave Me Now” is no different. The intro is memorable and famous and features what I believe are French horns. The production on this song is very intricate. Note the lack of drums but the presence of a shaker! Cetera’s bassline is surprisingly complex and it gets lost in the orchestration. That is okay–bass is meant to be in the background most of the time.

Later-era Chicago featured the vocal stylings of Peter Cetera. This is one of later Chicago’s best songs if not their best song. Cetera has a pretty crazy range for a male vocalist and one of the more unique voices in rock.

The lyric is pretty straight forward: the narrator is asking his lover not to leave him. Both because it will hurt him and because of all the time they’ve put in. Also, because they might regret it tomorrow. Maybe not the best logical arguments but this is a love song not a logic class.

If You Leave Me Now Lyrics

If you leave me now you’ll take away the biggest part of me
No baby please don’t go
And if you leave me now you’ll take away the very heart of me
No baby please don’t go, no I just want you to stay

A love like ours is love that’s hard to find
How could we let it slip away?
We’ve come too far to leave it all behind
How could we end it all this way?
When tomorrow comes and we both regret
The things we said today

A love like ours is love that’s hard to find
How could we let it slip away?
We’ve come too far to leave it all behind
How could we end it all this way?
When tomorrow comes and we both regret
The things we said today

And if you leave me now you’ll take away the biggest part of me
No baby please don’t go, no baby please don’t go
Oh girl, I just got to have your lovin, yeah
No baby please don’t go, don’t go, don’t go

Songwriters: Peter Cetera