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Leave Right Now
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Wikipedia article
"'Leave Right Now'" is a song written by Eg White and performed by British singer-songwriter Will Young. It appears on Will Young's second album, 'Friday's Child' (2003) and was released as the first single from that album. The song also appears on the international version of Young's third album, 'Keep On' (2005).
The song is reportedly about unrequited love. White was awarded the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically for "Leave Right Now" in 2004. "Leave Right Now" was the exit song for the ninth season of 'American Idol'. Young performed it on the penultimate episode (25 May 2010) to accompany a video montage recapping the season.
Critical reception
'Stylus Magazine', who were mostly mixed to negative for Young's previous number ones, rated "Leave Right Now" with 9/10, saying "Better. Much, much better. By this time Will was comfortable as a popstar, prepared to add a little WTF to his videos (here he has a fight with the viewer in an art gallery), and had his style down pat: jacket and jeans rocked to a level not seen since Lovejoy and Tinker were bossing things in the late 80s. He had songs to match as well: 'Leave Right Now' is just one of the most English songs ever, which is understandable: what could be more English than a privately educated homosexual? The guy's a moderate geniusDido with testicles and a heart." In 2007, 'Freaky Trigger' ranked the song at number 54 in their list of the "Top 100 Songs of All Time," with critic Pete Baran calling it "one of the 'ballsiest' songs of the noughties."[http://freakytrigger.co.uk/tag/top-100-songs-of-all-time/page/9/ top 100 songs of all time | FreakyTrigger] In 2020, 'The Guardian' ranked "Leave Right Now" at number 74 in its list of "The 100 greatest UK No 1 singles".
Commercial performance
The single went to number one in the UK Singles Chart and stayed there for two weeks, selling 117,702 copies in its first week. As of December 2018, the single had sold 638,000 copies, (728,000 including streaming equivalent sales). The song has sold 50,000 copies in the United States according to 'Billboard', with 32,000 of those occurring the week he performed on 'American Idol'.
Music video
The video, which has no transitions, features Young at a party where a fight starts and he gets caught up in it. The video also features actress Kelly Wenham as one of the party guests.
Track listings
'UK CD single'
# "Leave Right Now"
# "Cry"
# "Leave Right Now" (acoustic)
# "Leave Right Now" (video)
'European CD single'
# "Leave Right Now" 3:33
# "Ticket to Love" (live at Exeter Festival 2003) 5:23
'Australian CD single'
# "Leave Right Now" 3:33
# "Ticket to Love" (live at Exeter Festival 2003) 5:23
# "Cry" 4:20
# "Leave Right Now" (acoustic) 4:12
# "Leave Right Now" (video)
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
Certifications
Release history
Cover versions
It was covered in French by Pierrick Lilliu as "La mme erreur" (The Same Mistake) on his 2005 debut album, 'Besoin d'espace'. Earlier that year, Lilliu was a runner-up in the French reality show, 'Nouvelle Star'. The show is an analogue to the UK's 'Pop Idol', which launched Will Young's career. It was parodied in Ireland by Mario Rosenstock for the radio show 'Gift Grub', whose identically titled version poked fun at Roy Keane's controversial departure from Manchester United and his falling-out with Alex Ferguson. Rosenstock's version also reached number one on the Irish Christmas charts.
In 2005, 'The O.C.' actor Peter Gallagher recorded a version for his album [https://web.archive.org/web/20141230043434/http://www.petergallagher.com/music/memphis.php '7 Days in Memphis'], released on 8 November 2005.
In 2013, Australian artist Anthony Callea recorded a version for his album, 'Thirty'.
References
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