Songfacts®:

• This is one of six songs Groban wrote with Dan Wilson that appear on the Illuminations album - they were teamed up by the album's producer, Rick Rubin. Groban had the title, the verse melody and the chorus, where he pleads, "If I walk away, please follow me."
• The song's co-writer Dan Wilson recorded a new version for his 2017 album Re-Covered. As part of the album, he wrote: "'If I Walk Away' sounds like an artistic journey. Hesitating artistically until someone gives you a clue, a direction:
  
  Lately I've been the quiet one
  Waiting, searching the lines of the songs you played for me
  
  Then heading off on that artistic journey:
  
  Sailing into the misty air
  Bound for I don't know where
  When we're there we'll see
• The second verse came about after Dan Wilson asked, "What would Neil Diamond do?" Groban stated imitating Diamond, making up a song in his style. It was just a good, but when Groban sang what he made up in his own voice, it worked.