General
gone
What does gone mean?
Carried away by music or feeling, lost in it to the point of transcendence.
"By the second chorus the whole band was gone."
Origin
From 1940s jazz musicians' slang meaning lost in the music; 'real gone' became a stock phrase of praise. The Beat Generation took it as a central word for ecstatic absorption, immortalized in lines like Kerouac's writing on jazz.
Frequently asked questions
What does gone mean in beatnik slang?
It means swept up in the music or moment to the point of transcendence — and by extension, excellent. 'Real gone' was high praise.
Where did gone come from?
From 1940s jazz culture, describing a player so deep in the music they'd left the ordinary world behind. Beatniks adopted it wholesale.
Is 'real gone' the same as 'gone'?
'Real gone' is the intensified, idiomatic form — pure praise meaning 'fantastic' — while plain 'gone' can also literally mean absorbed or spaced out.
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