A meditation on translation in the most expansive meaning of the word, this book explores how “Ne me quitte pas”—a text, a piece of cultural production written in a specific context, and a work of mass/popular art—travels across languages, geographies, genres, and generations. I credit this song—and more specifically Nina Simone’s single—with one of the reasons why I, a Black woman from a monolingual English-speaking family, studied French in the first place. The book highlights the song’s winding journey from its origin by Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel to Simone’s riveting cover, to Shirley Bassey’s English rendition “If You Go Away,” and to other adaptations, such as Sasha Velour’s drag performance. I analyze these different versions from various dimensions—language, sound, emotion, culture, gender, and race—to underscore the transformative power of songs.