DON'T WALK AWAY
(words and music by Rick Springfield) 

I know just what you're doing
You don't want to put the hurt on someone
You've been trying to convince yourself
You're better off if you just turn and run

But I'm gonna hold on tight
I've got a feeling
You'll only happen once to me
And no one not even you
Is ever gonna make you wrong for me

Don't walk away
Or are you looking for a price to pay
Is that your master plan
Don't walk away
I'll do everything to make you stay
I've got to make a stand
Don't walk away
I'm not afraid
Don't walk away

I don't know where you're going
But I know what you've got on your mind
And I think your fear is showing
You don't leave things like fear behind

And I hate to be the one
To break it to you that
We're only human after all
I can mend a broken wing
I'll give you everything I have

Don't walk away
Or are you looking for a price to pay
Is that your master plan
Don't walk away
I'll do everything to make you stay
I've got to make a stand
Don't walk away
I'm not afraid
Don't walk away

You used to be the one
Who used to be so strong
What happened to your rationale
Your heart is on the line
It happens all the time

Don't walk away
Don't walk away

Don't walk away
Or are you looking for a price to pay
Is that your master plan
Don't walk away
I'll do everything to make you stay
I've got to make a stand

Don't walk away
Or are you looking for a price to pay
Is that your master plan
Don't walk away
I'll do everything to make you stay
I've got to make a stand
Don't walk away
I'm not afraid
Don't walk away

Don't walk away

(total playing time: 4:03)

This song appears on the following releases:
Hard to Hold (soundtrack), Best 21, 
Best of Rick Springfield, The Encore Collection,  Behind the 
Music: Rick Springfield Collection, The Greatest Hits Alive (as part of a Medley) The Best of Rick Springfield (Japan), Anthology (written in rock), We Are The '80s.

 According to US

This has got to be my favorite song off of the Hard to Hold CD. I love the haunting sound of the intro...the way Rick's voice kind of cracks when he sings "I know just what you're doing, you don't want to put the hurt on someone" like he knows he's the "someone" who is going to be hurt. But by the next line, I'd swear he was talking about himself ..."you've been trying to convince yourself you're better off if you just turn and run" (I like to think he's referring to himself here, because for the life of me I cannot fathom a woman wanting to run away from this man). Then the tone of his voice changes - you hear the urgency "I'm gonna hold on tight, I've got a feeling you'll only happen once to me - and no one not even you is ever gonna make you wrong for me", like he knows the woman who is running away from this relationship is smarter than him, and he's not going to succumb to the guy-dumbness that sets in when commitment looms.

My favorite verse is when the tempo changes: "And I hate to be the one, to break it to you that..we're only human after all. I can mend a broken wing...I'll give you everything I have" sigh. I love this man.

Goofy teenage story time. I was in a drama class in high school when Hard to Hold came out. We had an assignment to lip synch a song. Guess what I picked? Hey - no surprise it was a Rick song, but it was Don't Walk Away. Now we were graded on everything, not just how good of a lip-synch we did (Which btw, mine was excellent-down to every breath if I do say so myself. ) but also appearance. So I came to class in black pants, white shirt and long black coat, complete with my hair messed up and my dad's long black "funeral" coat. It helped that I also had my hair cut very similar to the way Rick was wearing it at this time...dare I say it, mullet-ish. I also added stubble on my face with the aid of my eyeliner pencil. For anyone who saw Rick touring that year, this was the look he sported at the beginning of the show, and my presentation copied the long walk, the hand motions....all I needed was the smoke machine special effects. Yes, I was a sick puppy even back then. I got an A though! 

I think this song fits well in the movie where it is played. I just hated that they cut the whole middle of the song out! I had bought the album before I saw the movie (naturally) and DWA was already becoming an often played favorite. I was so glad to see it released as a single. - Michelle P

I love this song, although it's not my favorite on the cd. Every time I hear it, I think of the "park scene", long dark coat, Rick looking so sad. I'm not a big fan of the saxophone, but I absolutely love it's use in this song. I've also always liked the way he says the word "fear" "you don't leave things like fear behind". - rlh

I love this song. Like so many of Rick's songs it applied to where I was at that time. It came out at a time in my life when I was having like an inner war with myself. Whether to stay in a hopeless relationship or move on. Don't walk away. Make a stand. I can mend your broken dreams. Better off if you just turn and run. All phrases I understand.
I love how it starts out with the melancholy sound of the horns. It just really sets the mood for this song. You know how an artist creates many works over the course of their career? I really believe that this song is one of Rick's masterpieces. This song is perfect. The music, the words, the way he sang it with such passion and wisdom. - Elizabeth S.

OH THIS SONG!!! This has got to be my number one favorite song of Ricks, if I had to choose one. It comes in close to a few others, but it does and will always hold a special place in my heart, for a few different reasons. One being, this was the very first song Rick performed at my very first concert at the age of 14. I'll never forget that light in the middle of the stage with all of the smoke coming down from the ceiling and all of a sudden there was my man!! I just can't explain in words how excited I was to see him at the moment.

The beginning sax/keyboard combo just kills me every time and it really does do a number on me. I don't know why, but it almost gives me chills. Every word he sings and every lyric in it or so totally awesome and I can really really relate to this song from many aspects of my own life. I guess that is why it is so special to me and it really gives me a source of comfort. Basically, I just want to believe that I hear it in a way that tells me to never give up on anything, although it was written for different reasons (part of a movie script) it seems like something Rick would have experienced once or twice in his own life. Love, love love it!! - Amy L.

Man, I love this song. I love the desperation in his voice, and I love to hear how the sax seems to cry, lamenting for what once was. Rick's voice is pleading,  delicately insistent, and raw. It's the most beautiful song of a tortured lover. It makes me not want to walk away from whatever it is he is singing about...it really pulls at the heartstrings. I would love to hear the full version of this song live, and  I would love to be sitting in the front row to catch each facial expression as he sings it. Even that little bit of 80's synth going on is subtle yet trance-like. I'll never find the right words to due a review of this song justice, so I will just stop here, and put the  song on repeat just one more time. I cant seem to walk away from it! - Kat M.

Why is it that Rick Springfield can make me really love and appreciate the sax? It sounds amazing in this song. This has got to be one of my favorite Rick tunes. (in my top 30 at least). The opening of the song is like a set-up for what’s to come. Rick is a master at creating an opening ‘scene’ for the story he’s about to tell. The instruments here (I think I hear keyboards mixed in with that sax) are beautiful. It has an almost ‘eerie’ sound to it, but a sadness too. I’ve always been one to fall for sad, sappy songs…and especially a song like Don’t Walk Away, in which Rick conveys so much pain and desperation in his voice. The lyrics have a way of cutting you to the bone, even though they’re catchy and have the sing-along factor. 

I have to laugh when I hear Rick say that he is not much of a singer! He hasn’t a clue how great his voice really is. His voice is crisp and clear and perfect in this song, and it melds beautifully with the music in the first verse. I like the pleading in his voice with the word “no” in, “And no one, not even you is ever gonna make you wrong for me.” The chorus sounds so convicting to me. He’s telling her, “I’ll do everything to make you stay.” I’m not sure who Rick was singing about in this song, but he sounds like he had a real message here. It reminds me of Love Somebody in a sense, because of the message. Sometimes I feel that DWA is my favorite track from Hard to Hold, and other times I think it’s Love Somebody. Rick had some seriously great music on this soundtrack, regardless of what critics or people say about the movie. His song writing always amazes me!

I love the line, “I’ve got a feeling, you’ll only happen once to me.” Rick pegs that feeling many of us have/had/or hope to have, that this person is “The One.” He doesn’t care what others have to say about the relationship, he intends to “hold on tight.” It’s like Rick was ‘in tune’ with this woman…he knew she was afraid of commitment. The opening line is great---”I know just what you’re doing, you don’t wanna put the hurt on someone. You’ve been trying to convince yourself you’re better off if you just turn and run.” It’s like she was denying the love that was right in front of her. When I hear lines like this, various images come to mind. I can picture the scenes from the movie where Diana was ‘running’ from their relationship, and all the while she was in pain from her dad’s death. But I also remember scenes from Rick’s video and how there were several women who ’ran’ from him too. (which I still find very strange! LOL) Then there’s the images of his performance on Beat of the Live Drum (in which he’s a bit awkward, but cute, dancing on the catwalk. And specifically out-of-place-looking, performing without his guitar in hand!) I also just hear a man who was desperate to hold on to the love he’d found, and was trying to convince the woman to stay. He says it so well! 

The chorus is so in-your-face with not only the lyrics, but the faster, louder sound to the music. “Don’t walk away, or are you lookin’ for a price to pay, is that your master plan?” I like how Rick is saying that although SHE is scared and running, he is “not afraid.” He’s willing to take some chances with love this time. He even tells her he’ll “do everything” to make her stay. Sounds tempting Rick! LOL I love how Rick’s voice fades off into the sax just before the 2nd verse. Beautiful! 

Another great line---”And I think your fear is showing, you don’t leave things like fear behind.” I feel he’s telling her that he can see she really wants to stay, (she’s vulnerable and her emotions are showing through). But she’s just afraid, and even if she runs from the situation, the fear will still go with her. It’s not something you cannot escape from. It will follow you…

The line that captivated me the most with this song when it came out, and still does, is when he says, “I can mend your broken wing, I’ll give you everything I have. Don’t walk away.” That line grabbed my heart and held on, and since that time, this has been one of my favorite Rick songs. I love how he wants to try and ‘save’ her from herself. The funny thing is, for all these years I thought he was saying “mend your broken dream,“ and that’s what I’ve been singing. One of those misheard-Rick-lyrics. LOL! But I just learned (thank you for pointing that out, my fellow Rick fan!) that the word he uses is actually “broken wing.“ I like the sentiment there. I see that either way---‘wing,‘ dream---it makes sense and gives me the same feeling about what he’s saying. He loves this woman enough to help “heal” her and give all of himself, if only she’ll stay. She was that important to him. Sweet! (Yep, I’m a hopeless romantic!)

Another line that jumps out for me is when he tells her, “I hate to be the one, to break it to you that, we’re only human after all.” It’s interesting hearing Rick say that. I like how he has a way of “humanizing” himself in his music, especially when rock stars are often seen as super-human…or someone much different than ourselves. But he’s right…’we’re only human after all.’ He understood that she could not be perfect. 

I think the synth towards the end, about ¾ of the way through, is a really cool effect! It adds to the whole indecision and struggle of the song, along with Rick’s voice breaking in a few times, “Don’t walk away.” The keyboards are a biggie in this song. Then we hear something that sounds almost like a spiraling sound when the chorus kicks back up. I find that sound effect appropriate with the ‘story.‘ The music is brilliant! It has a killer beat you can dance to, and lyrics that are easy and catchy to sing along with. It’s a masterful combination of sounds and beats that fit together very well, jumping back and forth throughout the whole song, from fast and upbeat to slow and mellow. I would LOVE to see Rick do this one live. Of course, he’d have to have a guest sax man at his shows. ;-)  - 
Kelley Pearson