I Want You Back

"I Want You Back"
Single by The Jackson 5
from the album Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5
B-side	"Who's Lovin' You"
Released	October 7, 1969 (U.S.)
Format	Vinyl record (7" 45 RPM)
Recorded	July 1969 The Sound Factory, West Hollywood
Genre	Soul, funk, pop
Length	2:59
Label	Motown M 1157
Writer(s)	The Corporation - (Berry Gordy, Freddie Perren, Alphonzo Mizell and Deke Richards)
Producer	The Corporation
The Jackson 5 singles chronology
"We Don't Have to Be Over 21 (To Fall in Love)" (1968) "I Want You Back" (1969) "ABC" (1970)

"I Want You Back" is a 1969 song; the debut major-label single for The Jackson 5 which became a number-one hit for the band and the Motown label in early 1970. The song, along with a b-side cover of Smokey Robinson & the Miracles' "Who's Lovin' You", was the only single from the first Jackson 5 album, Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5. It went to number one on the soul singles chart for four weeks and held the number-one position on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for the week ending January 31, 1970.

Production

Originally considered for Gladys Knight & the Pips and later for Diana Ross, as "I Wanna Be Free", "I Want You Back" explores the theme of a lover who decides that he was too hasty in dropping his partner. An unusual aspect about "I Want You Back" was that its main lead vocal was performed by a preteen, Michael Jackson.

The single was a notable first in many respects: it was the first Jackson 5 single to be released on Motown the first of four Jackson 5 number-ones released in a row (the others being "ABC", "The Love You Save", and "I'll Be There"), and the first song written and produced by The Corporation, a team comprising Motown chief Berry Gordy, Freddie Perren, Alphonzo Mizell, and Deke Richards.

"I Want You Back" was also the first Jackson 5 song recorded in Los Angeles, California; the quintet had previously been recording Bobby Taylor-produced covers, including "Who's Lovin' You", the B-side to "I Want You Back", at Hitsville U.S.A. in Detroit, Michigan.

Although Gladys Knight and Bobby Taylor of the Vancouvers had been the ones to bring the Jackson brothers to Motown^{[citation needed]},Motown credited Ross with discovering them, not only to help promote the Jackson 5, but also to help ease Ross' transition into a solo career.^{[citation needed]}, a career begun soon after the Jackson 5 became a success.

Live performances

The Jackson 5 performed "I Want You Back" during all of their world tours, either as the full song or as a part of the Jackson 5 Medley, which also included "ABC" and "Mama's Pearl" . "I Want You Back" was performed along with Sly & the Family Stone's "Sing a Simple Song," The Delfonics' "Can You Remember," and James Brown's "There Was a Time" during their first television appearance on The Hollywood Palace in an episode hosted by Diana Ross & the Supremes.

Michael Jackson, after leaving the Jackson 5, performed the song as part of his "Jackson 5 Medley" during all of his world tours, which included the songs "The Love You Save" and "I'll Be There" Bad World Tour, the Dangerous World Tour and the HIStory World Tour. The last time the song was performed live was during the Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special, which was also the first time the group performed together since 1983. The song was due to be performed during the "Jackson 5 Medley" at Michael Jackson's This Is It tour, but was cancelled due to his sudden death.

Reception

It has sold 6 million copies worldwide. In 1999, "I Want You Back" was also inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

"I Want You Back" ranks number 121 on Rolling Stone's list of the '500 Greatest Songs of All Time'. It also ranks ninth on Rolling Stone's list of the '100 Greatest Pop Songs since 1963'.

In 2006, Pitchfork Media named it the second best song of the 1960s, adding that the chorus contains "possibly the best chord progression in pop music history." A June 2009 article by The Daily Telegraph called it "arguably the greatest pop record of all time".

Charts

Chart (1970)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	77
UK Singles Chart	2
US Billboard Hot 100	1
Chart (2009)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	53
French Digital Singles Chart	26
Irish Singles Chart	34
Swedish Singles Chart	47
UK Singles Chart	43

Personnel

• Lead vocals by Michael Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Jackie Jackson
• Background vocals by Michael Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Tito Jackson, Jackie Jackson and Marlon Jackson
• Written, produced and arranged by The Corporation
• Keyboards by Freddie Perren
• Piano by Joe Sample^{[citation needed]}
• Guitar by David T. Walker, Louis Shelton and Don Peake
• Bass guitar by Wilton Felder
• Drums by Gene Pello
• Tambourine by Sandra Crouch^{[citation needed]}

Preceded by "Someday We'll Be Together" by Diana Ross & the Supremes	Billboard Best Selling Soul number-one single January 10, 1970–January 31, 1970	Succeeded by "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) / Everybody Is a Star" by Sly & the Family Stone
Preceded by "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" by B.J. Thomas	Billboard Hot 100 number-one single January 31, 1970 (1 week)	Succeeded by "Venus" by The Shocking Blue

Cover versions

• A "live" version by Graham Parker and The Rumour garnered mild success in 1979; its title is sometimes shown as "I Want You Back (Alive)". David Ruffin recorded a version with The Funk Brothers at Hitsville in Detroit with the familiar Motown sound. It was to be included on his unreleased LP "David".
• Canadian girl group West End Girls had a top-10 single in 1991 with their cover.
• Latin Freestyle singer George Lamond recorded a semi-successful cover version that appeared on his 1992 album, In My Life
• British girl group Cleopatra released their cover version from their album Comin' Atcha!, which reached number four in the UK official top 40 in 1998.
• In 2004, R&B/Pop singer Jay-Kid covered the song on his album "Bringing You the Magic!"
• The Mexican cumbia band Los Super Reyes covers the track in Spanish with the title "Quédate Más (I Want You Back)" on their 2007 debut album El Regreso De Los Reyes.
• Allister recorded of cover of this song for their 2010 album "Countdown To Nowhere."
• The band Discovery, featuring of Wesley Miles of Ra Ra Riot and Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend, cover the track on their 2009 debut album, LP.
• Korean singer Park Bom (박봄) from 2NE1 sang "I Want You Back" on KBS's sketchbook as a solo.
• Richie Kotzen, ex-member of the bands Poison and Mr. Big, made a cover in the 2009 Japanese version of his album Peace Sign.
• The John Butler Trio performed the song on the Triple J segment Like a Version in January 2010.
• Virginia-based powerpop/rock band The Bigger Lights made a cover of this song available on their MySpace on December 15, 2009.
• It was performed on American Idol during Hollywood Week's Group Night of Season 8 by White Chocolate, a group containing Kris Allen and Matt Giraud.
• The song was sung by Motown legend Smokey Robinson on his 2009 album Time Flies When You're Having Fun.
• French salsa band Afincao in 2009, spanish/spanglish version : "I Want You Regreses"
• Pop punk band A Loss for Words covered "I Want You Back" on their cover album "Motown Classics" released in May 2010
• Colbie Caillat covered the song for her iTunes Session in January 2010.
• The song appears as a bonus track on Sheryl Crow's 2010 CD 100 Miles from Memphis.
• Ayọ covered the song and released as a bonus track for her 2011 album Billie-Eve.
• The Nickelodeon TV show Victorious featured the song on their TV film/episode Locked Up, which is included in its soundtrack, released on August 2, 2011. Also, the star of the show, Victoria Justice has performed the song on her tour stops.
• The song was covered on the eighth series of The X Factor UK by contestant Janet Devlin on Week 5.
• An a cappella version by The Beelzebubs (as the Dalton Academy Warblers) was recorded for the TV series Glee's Michael Jackson tribute episode. The scene was filmed, cut in the final process of editing, but was still released as a single on iTunes.

Live covers

• The British singer Mika sang the song during one of his Europeans tours, and the song appears on the Live in Cartoon Motion DVD.
• Guns N' Roses played a short version of the song in Tokyo, 2009, on their Chinese Democracy World Tour.
• Sugarland performs the song in a mashup of Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) and Party in the U.S.A. on their Incredible Machine Tour.
• A progressive bluegrass version of "I Want You Back", featuring mandolin and guitar, was performed by American acoustic trio Nickel Creek on their "Farewell (For Now) Tour" in 2007.
• Victoria Justice & The Cast Of Victorious performed it on their Walmart performance.

Sampled and remixed versions

The song has been repeatedly sampled, with notable uses by Kris Kross ("Jump", 1992), Tamia ("Imagination, 1998), Jay-Z ("Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" and the mash up "Izzo/In The End" with Linkin Park, 2001), and Lil Romeo ("My Baby", 2001). The song was interpolated by BLACKstreet and Mya featuring Ma$e and Blinky Blink for the remix of "Take Me There" from the Rugrats Movie soundtrack. A lesser-known sample was the one used in "Fantastic" by will.i.am. The song was also used in a mash-up alongside Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind for the game DJ Hero. The song was also covered by Discovery on their album LP.

• The single was re-issued in the UK in 1988 as a remix by Pete Waterman's PWL label. They remixed the song to include a snippet of "ABC". The remix reached #8 in the UK.^{[citation needed]}
• The song was performed by the cast of Victorious in the special Victorious: Locked Up.
• Matthew McCoy covered the song for his debut EP, Eleventh Hour.

External links

• Overview of "I Want You Back", featuring picture sleeves from all over the world