| When You Come Back to Me | |
| Cover: | jasondonovanbacktome.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Jason Donovan |
| Album: | Between the Lines |
| B-Side: | "When You Come Back to Me" (instrumental) |
| Released: | 27 November 1989 |
| Studio: | PWL (London) |
| Genre: | Pop, dance-pop |
| Length: | 3:34 |
| Label: | PWL |
| Producer: | Stock, Aitken & Waterman |
| Prev Title: | Every Day (I Love You More) |
| Prev Year: | 1989 |
| Next Title: | Hang On to Your Love |
| Next Year: | 1990 |
"When You Come Back to Me" is a song recorded by Australian artist and actor Jason Donovan. It was released on 27 November 1989 as the first single from his second album Between the Lines.[1] It charted in the UK on 9 December 1989, peaking at number two the following week and returning to the same position in January 1990, becoming one of his biggest selling singles in Britain.[2] Reaching a disappointing number 40 in Australia, the track was Jason's final top 40 chart hit in his home country.[3]
As with all Donovan's early recordings, "When You Come Back to Me" was written and produced by the production team Stock, Aitken & Waterman. In addition, Matt Aitken contributed guitar; Mike Stock provided backing vocals, and both played keyboards on the track.[4]
The track was deliberately composed to evoke the Christmas season in the UK, without making any explicit auditory or lyrical references. Composer Mike Stock did not want to write a song that was "exploitative of the Christmas message" and was conscious an overtly festive song would go quickly out of date after Christmas had finished. However the song's evocation of a London Christmas has been blamed for its chart failure in Australia, where the track received a January 1990 release.
An instrumental version and three remixes augmented the standard edit for the single release.[5]
In 2017, Christian Guiltenane of British magazine Attitude considered the song as "an absolutely delightful sing-song that has choral oohs in the background 'nah nah nahs' in the chorus".[6]
A. "When You Come Back to Me" – 3:31
B. "When You Come Back to Me" (instrumental) – 3:33
A. "When You Come Back to Me" (the Yuletide Sleigh List Mix mix) – 4:40
B. "When You Come Back to Me" (instrumental) – 3:33
A. "When You Come Back to Me" – 3:31
B. "When You Come Back to Me" (instrumental) – 3:33
A. "When You Come Back to Me (extended)" – 5:48
B1. "When You Come Back to Me (No Probs mix) – 5:34
B2. "When You Come Back to Me (instrumental) – 3:33
Note: Mixed by Dave Ford, the "instrumental" version is not the instrumental of the single version to which it accompanied, but rather a stripped back guitar orientated version, identified on the 2009 iTunes releases as the "Guitar instrumental".
| Austria (Airplay Top 20)[7] | 14 |
|---|---|
| Denmark (IFPI)[8] | 14 |
| Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[9] | 4 |
| Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[10] | 1 |
| Spain (AFYVE)[11] | 15 |
| UK Singles (OCC)[12] | 37 |
| Belgium (Ultratop)[13] | 72 |