I Want You Back

I Want You Back is a 1969 pop song by The Jackson Five, written and produced by the songwriting group known as The Corporation, Berry Gordy Jr, Freddie Perren, Deke Richards and Fonce Mizell. In 2004, the music magazine Rolling Stone voted the song #121 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

History

Songwriters The Corporation had written a song called "I Want to be Free" that was originally intended to be sung by Gladys Knight or Diana Ross. Berry Gordy, owner of the Motown record label, requested that the song be rewritten so that it could be sung by children. The Corporation wrote new lyrics and The Jackson Five recorded the song under the title "I Want You Back" for their debut album Diana Ross Presents the Jackson Five.

Publication

"I Want You Back" was released in October 1969 in the U.S. and January 1970 in Europe as the first single from the debut album; the B-side featured a cover version of The Miracles' classic "Who's Lovin' You". For promotional purposes, the band appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in December 1969, where they performed both tracks. The single was the Jackson Five's first number one hit and reached number 19 on the 1970 US annual singles chart.