“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	Hitsville West, Los Angeles; September 1969
Genre	Soul
Length	3:01
Label	Motown M 1157
Writer(s)	The Corporation
Producer	The Corporation
The Jackson 5 singles chronology
"Big Boy" (1968) "I Want You Back" (1969) "ABC" (1970)

"I Want You Back" is a 1969 number-one single recorded by The Jackson 5 for the Motown label. The song, backed with a 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 held the number-one position on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for the week of January 31, 1970.

"I Want You Back" ranks number 120 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.^[1] 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."^[2]

Production notes

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.^{[citation needed]}

The single was a notable first in many respects: it was the first Jackson 5 single to be released on Motown^{[citation needed]}, the first of four Jackson 5 number-ones released in a row (the others are "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 began soon after the Jackson 5 became a success.

The Jackson 5 performed "I Want You Back," 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.

Credits

• Lead vocals by Michael Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Jackie Jackson and Marlon 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
• Guitar by David T. Walker, Louis Shelton and Don Peake
• Bass guitar by Wilton Felder
• Drums by Gene Pello

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, while British girl group Cleopatra also released a cover version, which reached #4 in the UK in 1998.

Singer-songwriter KT Tunstall often performs a cover version of the song live at her concerts. A progressive bluegrass version of "I Want You Back", featuring mandolin and guitar, was performed by United States acoustic trio Nickel Creek on their "Farewell (For Now) Tour" in 2007.

The song has been repeatedly sampled, with notable uses by Kris Kross ("Jump", 1992), Tamia ("Imagination, 1998), Jay-Z ("Izzo (H.O.V.A.)"), 2001), and Lil Romeo ("My Baby", 2001). The song was interpolated by BLACKstreet and Mya featuring Mase and Blinky Blink for the remix of "Take Me There" from the Rugrats Movie soundtrack. A not so noticed sample was the one used in "Fantastic" by will.i.am.

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]}

North Carolina band Angry Salad released a cover of "I Want You Back"; the song quickly became a fan favorite.

References

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2008)

External links

• Overview of "I Want You Back" Complete picture sleeved records from all over the world, from jackson5abc.com