Take Me Back
Recording Artist: Bryan Adams
Writers: Jim Vallance
Bryan Adams
Date Written: 1980-1982 / Vancouver and New York
Albums: Cuts Like A Knife (A&M Records, 1983)
Live Live Live (A&M Records, 1988)
Charts: #21 - Billboard Top Tracks Chart / 1983 (14 weeks on the chart)
Audio:
 
Bryan Adams: rhythm guitar, lead guitar, vocal
Keith Scott: rhythm guitar
Tommy Mandel: organ
Dave Taylor: bass
Mickey Curry: drums
Jim Vallance: Percussion
Backing vocals: Bryan Adams, Keith Scott, Lou Gramm, Alfa Anderson
 
Produced by Bob Clearmountain and Bryan Adams.  Recorded by Bob Clearmountain, September 1982, at Little Mountain Sound (Vancouver) and the Power Station (New York).  Mixed by Bob Clearmountain.
Additional Audio:
 
Jim Vallance:  guitar, bass, drums, vocal
 
This is the original demo of "Take Me Back", the one I played for Bryan in 1980 (see note below).  I wish I could post ALL the Adams-Vallance demo's on this web-site, but unfortunately I'm only able to post the ones where I am the sole musician.
Comments:
  Bryan Adams, 1983
I wrote most of "Take Me Back" while Bryan was away on tour. The chord structure for the chorus is roughly based on the Rolling Stone's song "Heartbreaker".

I played the track for Bryan sometime in 1980.  He seemed to like it, but he remained coy, occasionally expressing mild interest in recording the song.

Nothing happened for a year or two. Then one day Bryan phoned from New York to tell me he was in the studio and had just recorded "Take Me Back"!   I was surprised, but I was also thrilled.  Bryan held the phone up to the control room speakers and played it for me, including a new section he'd written that day, in the studio: "Oh won't you take me back ...".   I thought it was a great addition to the song.

"Take Me Back" was the centerpiece of Bryan's live performances throughout the early 1980's. It featured a 5-minute, "politically incorrect" monologue.
Lyrics:
Click to view
I shoulda seen it comin'
I shoulda seen the signs
Didn't really think that she needs me
Must've bin blind

She didn't give me a warnin'
Said I shouldn't treat you wrong
But when I woke up this mornin'
She was gone gone gone
She said....

Take me back won't ya
Take me back won't ya
I'll change my ways
Take me back won't ya
Take me back won't ya
I'm not the same

She didn't tell me about it
Am I supposed to read your mind
You make me get up and shout it
It's a crime crime crime

I shoulda seen it comin'
I shoulda seen the signs
Didn't really think that she needs me
Must've bin blind

She said....
Take me back won't ya
Take me back won't ya
I'll change my ways
Take me back won't ya
Take me back won't ya
I'm not the same

Won't ya take me back
Won't ya take me back