I Want You Back

Album: Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 (1969)
Charted: 2 1
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  • Uh-huh, huh, huh
    Let me tell you now
    Uh-huh

    When I had you to myself, I didn't want you around
    Those pretty faces always made you stand out in a crowd
    But someone picked you from the bunch, one glance was all it took
    Now it's much too late for me to take a second look

    Oh, baby, give me one more chance (to show you that I love you)
    Won't you please let me back in your heart
    Oh, darlin', I was blind to let you go (let you go, baby)
    But now since I see you in his arms (I want you back)
    Yes, I do now (I want you back)
    Ooh, ooh, baby (I want you back)
    Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (I want you back)
    Na, na, na, na

    Trying to live without your love is one long sleepless night
    Let me show you, girl, that I know wrong from right
    Every street you walk on, I leave tear stains on the ground
    Following the girl I didn't even want around
    Let me tell you now

    Oh, baby, all I need is one more chance (to show you that I love you)
    Won't you please let me back in your heart
    Oh, darlin', I was blind to let you go (let you go, baby)
    But now since I see you in his arms, uh-huh

    Ah, buh bum, bum, bum
    Ah, buh bum, bum, bum
    All I want
    Ah, buh bum, bum, bum
    All I need
    Ah, buh bum, bum, bum
    All I want
    Ah, buh bum, bum, bum
    All I need

    Oh, just one more chance to show that I love you
    Baby (baby)
    Baby (baby)
    Baby (baby)

    (I want you back)
    Forget what happened then (I want you back)
    Let me live again

    Oh, darling, I was blind to let you go
    But now since I see you in his arms
    (I want you back)

    Spare me of this 'cause (I want you back)
    Gimme back what I lost

    Oh, baby, I need one more chance, ha
    I tell ya that I love you
    Baby (oh), baby (oh), baby (oh)
    I want you back Writer/s: Alphonso Mizell, Berry Gordy Jr, Deke Richards, Freddie Perren
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 18

  • Marie B from UkIs the lyric 'pretty faces always made you stand out in a crowd' a positive?
  • 6tzguy from Orange County, CaI was told that Plato Brown played ‘congas’ on ‘I want you back’ and ‘ABC’ recordings. Is this true?
  • Punkanelly from Lake CharlesThanks Al. You're the only person who's ever been able to explain that lyric to me. It makes sense to me now
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyExactly fifty years ago today on January 25th, 1970 "I Want You Back" by The Jackson 5 peaked at #1* on Billboard's Top 100 chart, it remained at #1 for one week...
    The rest of the Top 10 on January 25th, 1970:
    At #2. "Venus" by The Shocking Blue
    #3. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" by B.J. Thomas {The #1 record the previous four weeks}...
    #4. "Whole Lotta Love"/"Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman)" by Led Zeppelin
    #5. "Without Love (There Is Nothing)" by Tom Jones
    #6. "Don't Cry Daddy"/"Rubberneckin'" by Elvis Presley
    #7. "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" by Dionne Warwick
    #8. "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)"/"Everybody Is A Star" by Sly and the Family Stone
    #9. "Someday We'll Be Together" by Diana Ross and the Supremes
    #10. "Leaving On A Jet Plane" by Peter, Paul and Mary
    * The week after "I Want You Back" peaked at #1 on the Top 100, it reached #1 {for 4 weeks} on Billboard's Hot R&B Singles chart...
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn February 21st 1970, the Jackson 5 performed "I Want You Back" on the ABC-TV program 'American Bandstand'...
    At the time the song was at #4 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; and just under a month earlier on January 25th, 1970 it peaked at #1 for one week {See post below}...
    Though they didn't perform it on this 'Bandstand show, their next release, "ABC", would entered the Top 100 fifteen days later on March 8th at position #41.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn December 14th 1969, the Jackson 5 performed "I Want You Back" on the CBS-TV program 'The Ed Sullivan Show'...
    At the time the song was at #17 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; and on January 25th, 1970 it peaked at #1 {See next post below}...
    And on January 4th, 1970 it also reached #1 {for 4 weeks} on Billboard's R&B Singles chart...
    * On the Top 100 it replaced "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" by B.J. Thomas at #1; "Raindrops" had been in the top spot for four weeks.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn October 18th 1969, the Jackson 5 performed "I Want You Back" on the ABC-TV program 'Hollywood Palace' {it was their U.S. national television debut}...
    Twenty-two days later on November 9th, 1969 it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 at position #90; eleven weeks later on January 25th, 1970 it peaked at #1 {for 1 week} and spent 19 weeks on the Top 100...
    As stated above in Fact #1 the quintet's next three releases also reached #1 on the Top 100, and then their next two records both peaked at #2, "Mama's Pearl" for 2 weeks and "Never Can Say Goodbye" for 3 weeks.
  • Heilige Bimbam from London, United KingdomDominick, where did you hear that Michael got injections to stop his voice breaking? Please give us the exact evidence, since you seem to believe it.These rumours were never substanciated, and his most comprehensive biographers found no evidence, after the most thorough research. Besides it would have amounted to medical malpractice, as well as grievous bodily harm, assault, and child abuse.Criminal charges would have been brought, believe me. So let us hear the source of your information.
  • Erin from Boston, Massachusetts, MaIt's impossible to NOT move as you listen to this song. I miss Michael. RIP MJ 7/3/09
  • Talya from Manchester, United KingdomJust to answer to Punkanelly's comment, I think this song basicly says that he used to be with a girl, and did not apreciate her very much( he says: "Following the girl
    I didn't even want around")
    and used to call her ugly and what not. And then when she realised she was being mis-treated she left him. He is now realising how much he misses her when she goes off with another man.
  • Dominick from New York, NyIn the song, "I'll Be There," he makes a mistake when he sings, "Just look over your shoulders, honey," but they kept it in. The mistake is he was supposed to sing "shoulder" not "shoulders." You can't look over both shoulders at the same time. So maybe the "pretty faces" line was a mistake, too.

    Also, the Jackson 5 patterned themselves after Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. Lymon was also a child singing sensation. When he reached puberty, his voice got deeper and his career was over. I believe he died in his early 20s from a heroine overdose.

    That's the reason Michael Jackson starting getting doctor's injections so his voice wouldn't change as he got older. Now, he's turned into a full-fledged weirdo.
  • Al from New York, NyThis is for punk, cause those lyrics bothered me for a while as well. What the lyrics means is that the girl in this song is not that pretty, so when she was in a crowd of pretty girls she stood out because she was less attractive. Then another man saw her true beauty.

    Considering that this is the single greatest song ever recorded, it bears mentioning.
  • Punkanelly from Lake Charles, LaWell I viewed the lyrics. I'm 42 years old and to this day I still don't understand what's meant by the line "those pretty faces always made you, stand out in a crowd". It makes no sense. Shouldn't they have written the song to say: Your pretty face it always made you, stand out in a crowd? Doesn't that sound more the they way the writers probably intended it to sound? Did something get confused during the studio recording process. Did Michael sing it the wrong way or did Berry Gordy make one of his last minute in-studio changes? I'd like to know the story behind the writing of that strange line in this song. If there is a story.
  • Anne from Dodge City, KsIf a guy ever told me that those pretty faces always made me stand out in a crowd... I think I would have to pass at taking him back. However I do love this song.
  • Caitlin from Upper Township, Njthis was my jazz dance in a recital when i was 6. i love it! its one of my favorite old songs
  • Nathan from From The Country Of, Canadavery catchy song classic jackson 5 song
  • Bill from Boston, United Statescheck out the Grahm Parker version STUNNING
  • Taal from Brisbane, AustraliaThe music for the song was also used by Rappin 4Tay in the song "Message for your Mind" which featured in the Dangerous Minds soundtrack.
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