Songfacts®:

• Linkin Park worked with former Arcade Fire violin player Owen Pallett on this ballad's string arrangements after drummer Rob Bourdon reached out to him. Frontman Mike Shinoda said regarding the collaboration: "I've not met him in person though, I think he may have met our drummer Rob, those two were emailing back and forth. I really love what he did with the song and what he did with Arcade Fire is just sensational."
• Chester Bennington's vocals come from a character that is planning on leaving home before the sun comes up. A video art installation that dabbles in astronomy was made based on the song's lyrical content. "The visuals for 'I'll Be Gone' stuck out to me because that song is a relationship-based song, but it's also got a second read of a space theme," Shinoda explained to Rolling Stone. "A lot of the songs have metaphors, and one of the metaphors in that song is space. [The visual artists] picked up on that language and turned it into this weird, intergalactic space travel thing."