Songoftheday 4/26/17 - Looking through my old drawer came across the letter you wrote, said you needed time away that was so long ago...
from the album Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11
Today's song of the day comes from Janet Jackson, whose landmark album Rhythm Nation 1814 had already spun off four top five pop hits with "Alright", "Rhythm Nation", and a pair of #1's with "Escapade" and "Miss You Much". The fifth single released from the album was the lush ballad "Come Back To Me". Written by Janet with her producers Jimmy "Jam" Harris and Terry Lewis, it took the template that the album track "Funny How Time Flies" had molded on her last album Control and brought more longing and emotional drama into pining for a past lover. The music video, filmed in Paris, made the isolation and loneliness of heartbreak even more palpable in the beautiful yet strange surroundings, while the production washes over you from its acappella beginning to the end full of violins...
"Come Back To Me" became the fifth top five pop hit from Rhythm Nation 1814, reaching the runner-up spot in August of 1990. The song was her first and so far only single to go to #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart, where it stayed for three weeks. It also spent a week at #2 on their R&B list as well. Internationally, the track climbed to #3 in Canada, and was a top-40 hit in the UK (#20) and Ireland (#21).
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Here's Janet performing "Come Back To Me" on her tour behind the Rhythm Nation album in 1990...
Next up, the "Abandonned Heart Mix" from the 12" single, which brought the strings front and center...
In 2008, rapper Plies sampled "Come Back To Me" on his single "Bust It Baby (Part 2). The record spent four weeks at #2 on the R&B chart and peaked at #7 on the pop chart...
and finally, from her All For You tour in 2002, Janet's amazing medley of "Come Back To Me", "Let's Wait Awhile", and "Again"...
Up tomorrow: Things with this innovative metal/rap hybrid band get a little, well, big.
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