Song of the Day #4,789: ‘Make It Go Away (Radiation Song)’ – Sheryl Crow

Here’s a song from Sheryl Crow’s 2008 album Detours, an album written and recorded after her 2006 breast cancer diagnosis.

‘Make It Go Away (Radiation Song)’ is rather obviously about her bout with cancer, and specifically the multiple radiation treatments she underwent to battle it. She made a full recovery, and soon thereafter split from boyfriend and fellow cancer survivor Lance Armstrong. Detours was written about that tumultuous period in her life.

Given this song’s poignant subject matter, I wish I liked it more. The verses are effective but I’m not crazy about the chorus. Glad she got better, though!

[Intro]
One, two, three

[Verse 1]
I stare into some great abyss
And calculate the things I’d miss
If I could only make some sense of this
And Madame Butterfly resounds
Over the mothership her lights flashing ’round
I float above her and I wonder how

[Chorus]
To make it go away
Make it go away
To make it go away
Make it go away

[Verse 2]
I crawl into my circumstance
Lay on the table begging for another chance
I was a good girl and I can’t understand

[Chorus]
How to make it go away
Make it go away
Make it go away
Make it go away

[Verse 3]
Sometimes I wonder which hurts worst
The thought of dying or reliving every hurt
Was love the illness and disease the cure?
Oh, the cure

[Chorus]
Make it go away
Make it go away
Make it go away
Make it go away
Make it go away
Make it go away
Make it go away
Make it go away
Go away

One thought on “Song of the Day #4,789: ‘Make It Go Away (Radiation Song)’ – Sheryl Crow

  1. Dana Gallup says:

    I’m certainly glad she survived cancer, but I agree the song is not all that great.

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