"The Day You Went Away" is a song originally recorded by the project Soul Family Sensation in 1991. Australian singer-songwriter Wendy Matthews' cover was released in 1992 as the lead single from her second solo studio album, Lily (1992). The song debuted on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart in August 1992, eventually peaking at No. 2 in December of the same year. This is Matthews' highest-charting single on the Australian chart. In the United Kingdom and Europe, the song was released on rooART in 1993 but was not a hit. Matthews subsequently included the song on her 1999 Greatest Hits album, Stepping Stones, and her 2007 compilation album, The Essential Wendy Matthews.