"When You're Gone" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne from her third studio album, The Best Damn Thing (2007). It was released as the second single from the album on 19 June 2007, by RCA Records. Lavigne co-wrote the song with Butch Walker, whilst production was solely helmed by Walker. According to Lavigne, the song is about saying goodbye to and missing a person that one cares about. Background Avril Lavigne has said the song "is about being with someone you love, and you have to say goodbye, and all the little things you miss about them". The song may have been inspired by Lavigne's then-husband, Deryck Whibley, although in an interview in Northern Ireland with The Belfast Telegraph she did not confirm this. According to her, she did not intend the song to be a love song, but she was writing a slow song and the process brought out "all that emotional stuff" in her. "It's not cheesy, because I wrote it", she said. "If I was older, a professional writer coming up with all that, that would be lame." Billboard magazine describes the song as "a power ballad with a piano and synth introduction". Composer Rob Mathes orchestrated the song with genuine string section, although the brief opening note, before the piano came in, was on a synthesizer. Critical reception "When You're Gone" has received mixed reviews from music critics. Alex Nunn wrote that Avril hasn't lost her sense in ballads with this song. Stylus was mixed calling the song "turgid and humdrum," but "taken at times by an exhilarating slickness." Dave Donnely was mixed to positive: "Ballad and expected next single 'When You're Gone' may be the best of the bunch, though it's superficially like any number of pop-rock ballads, with contemplative lyrics lending the album a little bit of emotional depth. The theme, separation from a lover, is universal, and the lyrics simple: "I always needed time on my own/I never thought I'd need you there when I cried/And the days feel like years when I'm alone/And the bed where you lie is made up on your side." PopMatters stated that this song tries to match "I'm With You" but it fails. On a more negative note, Darryl Sterdan of JAM! described the song as "a standard piano-and-strings weeper" and went on to tell the reader to skip-it. In an AOL Radio listener's poll,