Days Are Gone
by Haim

Album: Days Are Gone (2013)
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Songfacts®:

  • The Haim sisters wrote this song with British pop soul songstress Jessie Ware and her frequent songwriting partner, Nu-Folk artist Kid Harpoon. The American trio met Ware through a mutual friend while they were on tour in London and despite her tight schedule, managed to pen this tune during a five-hour lunch. Haim didn't set out to write a song that would end up on Days On Gone since as Alana of the trio explained to Radio.com, "It was mostly like, 'Let's write a song so you don't get in trouble,'" but they soon realized it was too good to pass up.
  • Danielle Haim told MTV News why they named their debut album after this song. The sisters had intended to go the eponymous route but changed their minds after realizing "Days Are Gone" was the perfect metaphor for their many missed album deadlines. "A lot of people actually wanted us to hand in the record a lot earlier than we did because the Forever EP, came out over a year ago," she said. "But it wasn't right."
  • Haim wrote the chorus with Jessie Ware in an hour. Este Haim told NME: "The entire first line was written after a dinner we had at 11 at night in the studio. The first thing I sang when I got on the mic stuck."
    Alana added: "The spirit of Mariah Carey just flew into Este's body."
  • Nine of the 11 tracks on Days Are Gone were produced by Ariel Rechtshaid, who'd previously worked with Plain White T's, Cass McCombs, and Usher. Speaking with Song Exploder, Danielle Haim recalled how the band first came to recruit the producer for their debut album.

    Danielle said she first came across his name after hearing a Cass McCombs song she fell in love with titled "County Line." "I remember looking it up," she said, "'Who did this album? Who produced this? This is awesome!' and I saw this name, Ariel Rechtshaid."

    Two weeks later, Danielle heard Usher's single "Climax." She looked it up and, "Oh my gosh, there's that name again. I remember telling my manager, 'I want to meet with this guy,' and that's how we met in 2012."

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