Eminem - When I’m Gone Video and Lyrics

When I’m Gone by Eminem , Music Video and Lyrics

“When I’m Gone” is a song from Eminem’s 2005 Curtain Call: The Hits greatest hits album, and one of the most critically acclaimed songs of his to-date. The song is about Eminem’s career’s effect on his relationship with his wife Kim.

Eminem - When I’m Gone Lyrics

Yeah…
Its my life…
In my own words I guess…
Have you ever loved someone so much, you’d give an arm for?
Not the expression, no, literally give an arm for?
When they know they’re your heart
And you know you are their armor
And you will destroy anyone who would try to harm her
But what happens when karma, turns right around and bites you?
And everything you stand for, turns on you despites you?
What happens when you become the main source of her pain?
“Daddy look what I made”, Dad’s gotta go catch a plane
“Daddy where’s Mommy? I can’t find Mommy where is she?”
I don’t know go play Hailie, baby, your Daddy’s busy
Daddy’s writing a song, this song ain’t gonna write itself
I’ll give you one underdog then you gotta swing by yourself
Then turn right around on that song and tell her you love her
And put hands on her mother, who’s a spitting image of her
That’s Slim Shady, yeah baby, Slim Shady’s crazy
Shady made me, but tonight Shady’s rock-a-by-baby…

[Chorus]
And when I’m gone, just carry on, don’t mourn
Rejoice every time you hear the sound of my voice
Just know that I’m looking down on you smiling
And I didn’t feel a thing, So baby don’t feel my pain
Just smile back
And when I’m gone, just carry on, don’t mourn
Rejoice every time you hear the sound of my voice
Just know that I’m looking down on you smiling
And I didn’t feel a thing, So baby don’t feel my pain
Just smile back…

[Verse 2]
I keep having this dream, I’m pushin’ Hailie on the swing
She keeps screaming, she don’t want me to sing
“You’re making Mommy cry, why? Why is Mommy crying?”
Baby, Daddy ain’t leaving no more, “Daddy you’re lying
“You always say that, you always say this is the last time
“But you ain’t leaving no more, Daddy you’re mine”
She’s piling boxes in front of the door trying to block it
“Daddy please, Daddy don’t leave, Daddy - no stop it!”
Goes in her pocket, pulls out a tiny necklace locket
It’s got a picture, “this’ll keep you safe Daddy, take it witcha’”
I look up, it’s just me standing in the mirror
These F**kin’ walls must be talking, ’cause man I can hear ‘em
They’re saying “You’ve got one more chance to do right” - and it’s tonight
Now go out there and show `em that you love ‘em before it’s too late
And just as I go to walk out of my bedroom door
It’s turns to a stage, they’re gone, and this spotlight is on
And I’m singing…

[Chorus]
And when I’m gone, just carry on, don’t mourn
Rejoice every time you hear the sound of my voice
Just know that I’m looking down on you smiling
And I didn’t feel a thing, So baby don’t feel my pain
Just smile back
And when I’m gone, just carry on, don’t mourn
Rejoice every time you hear the sound of my voice
Just know that I’m looking down on you smiling
And I didn’t feel a thing, So baby don’t feel my pain
Just smile back…

[Verse 3]
Sixty thousand people, all jumping out their seat
The curtain closes, they’re throwing roses at my feet
I take a bow and thank you all for coming out
They’re screaming so loud, I take one last look at the crowd
I glance down, I don’t believe what I’m seeing
“Daddy it’s me, help Mommy, her wrists are bleeding,”
But baby we’re in Sweden, how did you get to Sweden?
“I followed you Daddy, you told me that you weren’t leavin’
“You lied to me Dad, and now you made Mommy sad
“And I bought you this coin, it says ‘Number One Dad’
“That’s all I wanted, I just want to give you this coin
“I get the point - fine, me and Mommy are going”
But baby wait, “it’s too late Dad, you made the choice
“Now go out there and show ‘em that you love ‘em more than us”
That’s what they want, they want you more to, they keep.. screamin’ your name
It’s no wonder you can’t go to sleep, just take another pill
Yeah, I bet you you will. You rap about it, yeah, word, k-keep it real
I hear applause, all this time I couldn’t see
How could it be, that the curtain is closing on me
I turn around, find a gun on the ground, cock it
Put it to my brain and scream “die Shady” and pop it
The sky darkens, my life flashes, the plane that I was supposed to be on crashes and burns to ashes
That’s when I wake up, alarm clock’s ringin’, there’s birds singin’
It’s Spring and Hailie’s outside swinging, I walk right up to Kim and kiss her
Tell her I miss her, Hailie just smiles and winks at her little sister
Almost as if to say..

[Chorus/Outro]
And when I’m gone, just carry on, don’t mourn
Rejoice every time you hear the sound of my voice
Just know that I’m looking down on you smiling
And I didn’t feel a thing, So baby don’t feel my pain
Just smile back
And when I’m gone, just carry on, don’t mourn
Rejoice every time you hear the sound of my voice
Just know that I’m looking down on you smiling
And I didn’t feel a thing, So baby don’t feel my pain
Just smile back…

[Curtains closing and sounds of footsteps]

Eminem - When I’m Gone Song Info

It talks about him not being there for his daughter, Hailie, and (in a sort of metaphoric “dream”) Hailie confronts him at a concert in Sweden and demands to know why he was so cruel towards Kim (his ex-wife). She ends the confrontation by telling Eminem that he loves his fame, career, and fans more than his own family. After she leaves, Eminem turns around and sees a gun. He picks it up, screams “Die Shady!” and shoots his Slim Shady alter-ego. After that, he wakes up, realizing that it was only a dream. It’s spring, Hailie’s playing in the yard, and he kisses Kim.

The single was released officially in the United States on the 6 December 2005. It was released in Australia on January, 2006.

Tarick Salmaci, (from the TV show The Contender) makes an appearance in the video with his wife.

Whitney Scott, Kim Mathers’s daughter had by another man in the period in which she and Eminem were divorced, appears in the video to the song, she’s the youngest baby girl on the swing.

Released 2005
Genre Hip hop
Length 4 min 41 s
Label Shady/Aftermath/Interscope
Producer Eminem