"When You Come Back to Me" is a song recorded by

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

Jason Donovan Jason Sean Donovan (born 1 June 1968) is an Australian actor and singer. He initially achieved fame in the Australian soap ''Neighbours'', playing Scott Robinson, before beginning a career in music in 1988. In the UK he has sold over 3 millio ...

. It was released on 27 November 1989 as the first single from his second album '' Between the Lines.'' 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.Official Charts Company
/ref> Reaching a disappointing number 40 in Australia, the track was Jason's final top 40 chart hit in his home country.

Background

As with all Donovan's early recordings, "When You Come Back to Me" was written and produced by the production team

Stock, Aitken & Waterman Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW and also known as the Hit Factory) are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through t ...

. In addition,

Matt Aitken Matthew James Aitken (born 25 August 1956) is an English songwriter and record producer, brought up in Astley, Greater Manchester, best known as part of the 1980s/early-1990s songwriting/production trio Stock Aitken Waterman. Biography He beg ...

contributed

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

;

Mike Stock Michael Stock (born 3 December 1951) is an English songwriter, record producer, musician, and member of the songwriting and production trio Stock Aitken Waterman. He has been responsible for over a hundred top-40 hits in the UK, including 16 n ...

provided backing vocals, and both played keyboards on the track. The track was deliberately composed to evoke the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

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

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

es augmented the standard edit for the single release.

Critical reception

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". In 2019,

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a British music critic and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worke ...

wrote it was "arguably one of the best pop singles Stock-Aitken-Waterman would ever create", adding that it was "crafted as a seasonal epic. The lavish production combined a

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (December 26, 1939 – January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter who is best known for pioneering recording practices in the 1960s, followed by his trials and conviction for murder in the 2000s. S ...

-esque wall of sound with a tinkling melody, festive chimes and mixed it with a suitable festive lyrical theme"; however, Masterton lamented about the fact that the song he called a "forgotten gem" never became a Christmas classic throughout the years.

Track listings

* 7" single (PWL46) :A. "When You Come Back to Me" – 3:31 :B. "When You Come Back to Me" (instrumental) – 3:33 * 7" single poster bag (PWLP46) :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 * 7" single picture disc (PWLX46) :A. "When You Come Back to Me" – 3:31 :B. "When You Come Back to Me" (instrumental) – 3:33 * 12" single (PWLT46) :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 * Cassette Single (PWMC46) # "When You Come Back to Me" – 3:31 # "When You Come Back to Me" (instrumental) – 3:33 * CD Single (PWCD46) # "When You Come Back to Me" – 3:31 # "When You Come Back to Me" (extended) – 5:48 # "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".

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Jason Donovan 1989 singles Jason Donovan songs Songs written by Pete Waterman Songs written by Matt Aitken Songs written by Mike Stock (musician) Dance-pop songs Song recordings produced by Stock Aitken Waterman 1989 songs Pete Waterman Entertainment singles Number-one singles in Finland Irish Singles Chart number-one singles