Come Back to Me (Ayreon song)

Last updated
"Come Back to Me"
Ayreon CBTM.jpg
Single by Ayreon
from the album The Human Equation
Released 2005
Genre Progressive rock
Length11:54
Label InsideOut Music
Songwriter(s) Arjen Lucassen
Producer(s) Arjen Lucassen
Ayreon singles chronology
"Loser"
(2004)
"Come Back to Me"
(2005)

"Loser"
(2004)
"Come Back to Me"
(2005)
Arjen Anthony Lucassen singles chronology
"Loser"
(2004) Loser2004
"Come Back to Me"
(2005) Come Back to Me2005
Wherever You Are
(2005) Wherever You Are2005

Come Back to Me” is the fifth single by Arjen Anthony Lucassen's progressive rock/metal opera Ayreon, released on 2005 from its sixth album, The Human Equation , in which the song was called “Day Seven: Hope”.

Arjen Anthony Lucassen Dutch musician

Arjen Anthony Lucassen is a Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer best known for his long-running progressive metal/rock opera project Ayreon.

Progressive rock is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States throughout the mid to late 1960s. Initially termed "progressive pop", the style was an outgrowth of psychedelic bands who abandoned standard pop traditions in favour of instrumentation and compositional techniques more frequently associated with jazz, folk, or classical music. Additional elements contributed to its "progressive" label: lyrics were more poetic, technology was harnessed for new sounds, music approached the condition of "art", and the studio, rather than the stage, became the focus of musical activity, which often involved creating music for listening, not dancing.

Progressive metal is a fusion genre melding heavy metal and progressive rock that combines the loud "aggression" and amplified guitar-driven sound of the former with the more experimental, cerebral or "pseudo-classical" compositions of the latter.

Contents

The song is written, composed, produced and mixed by Lucassen, who is also performing lead vocals, guitar, bass and keyboards on it. Lucassen is portraying a character called Best Friend, while James LaBrie from Dream Theater also sing as the album's main character, Me.

The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer either leads the vocal ensemble, or sets against the ensemble as the dominant sound. In vocal group performances, notably in soul and gospel music, and early rock and roll, the lead singer takes the main vocal part, with a chorus provided by other band members as backing vocalists.

Guitar fretted string instrument

The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that usually has six strings. It is typically played with both hands by strumming or plucking the strings with either a guitar pick or the finger(s)/fingernails of one hand, while simultaneously fretting with the fingers of the other hand. The sound of the vibrating strings is projected either acoustically, by means of the hollow chamber of the guitar, or through an electrical amplifier and a speaker.

Bass guitar Electric bass instrument

The bass guitar is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, except with a longer neck and scale length, and four to six strings or courses.

"Come Back to Me" is the only single ever released by Lucassen in which he provides lead vocals. In the single version, Joost van den Broek from After Forever and Cleem Determeijer are playing keyboards, while Peter Vink is playing bass. A video clip was also released.

After Forever Dutch metal band

After Forever was a Dutch symphonic metal band with strong progressive metal influences. The band relied on the use of both soprano vocals and death grunts.

Music

The song follows the plot of the main story of the album. For more information of it, see the plot at the article of the album. It is the seventh day, and Best Friend decides to make an attempt to reach Me through his position, and decides to take Me back to the days when they were young, when they didn't have a worry in the world. Best Friend calls to Me, telling him to come back to the real world, in pain. Me feels as if he is trapped, and tries to shout, but something holds him back; as if his quest was not yet complete. Though in this version there's an extended bridge before a different tone of the ending; whereas in the album version Me's screams end the song to dark powerchords to represent his plight, the ending of Come back to Me is more upbeat, the “happy” arpeggios keep playing, Arjen keeps singing the chorus with Me's screams repeated.

Music video

A music video was shot for the song. It shows Best Friend (Arjen) visiting Me (who is not performed by James LaBrie) at the hospital. Sitting next to the bed, Best Friend looks at a photo album that he is holding. Through the photos of him and Me, Best Friend remembers the good times he had with Me, like camping, chasing girls, stealing fruit, etc. Meanwhile, the band is shown performing next to a swimming pool. Arjen and Ed are seen playing the acoustic guitar and the drums, respectively, while Peter Vink and Joost Van den Broek are playing the bass guitar and the keyboard, respectively. In the end, all the musicians are seen performing in the pool, while swimming, or just diving at the pool, along with a young Best Friend and Me.

Track listing

  1. Come Back to Me - 3:00
  2. August Fire - 2:42
  3. When I'm Sixty-Four (The Beatles cover) - 2:52
  4. Back 2 Me [Dance Mix by Two Maniacs] - 3:20
  5. Come Back to Me (video clip)
  6. Making of (video)

Personnel

Singing act of producing musical sounds with the voice

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice and augments regular speech by the use of sustained tonality, rhythm, and a variety of vocal techniques. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music that can be sung with or without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble of musicians, such as a choir of singers or a band of instrumentalists. Singers may perform as soloists or accompanied by anything from a single instrument up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Different singing styles include art music such as opera and Chinese opera, Indian music and religious music styles such as gospel, traditional music styles, world music, jazz, blues, gazal and popular music styles such as pop, rock, electronic dance music and filmi.

Electric guitar electrified guitar; fretted stringed instrument with a neck and body that uses a pickup to convert the vibration of its strings into electrical signals

An electric guitar is a guitar that uses one or more pickups to convert the vibration of its strings into electrical signals. The vibration occurs when a guitar player strums, plucks, fingerpicks, slaps or taps the strings. The pickup generally uses electromagnetic induction to create this signal, which being relatively weak is fed into a guitar amplifier before being sent to the speaker(s), which converts it into audible sound.

Electronic keyboard electronic keyboard instrument

An electronic keyboard or digital keyboard is an electronic musical instrument, an electronic or digital derivative of keyboard instruments. Broadly speaking, the term electronic keyboard or just a keyboard can refer to any type of digital or electronic keyboard instrument. These include synthesizers, digital pianos, stage pianos, electronic organs and digital audio workstations. However, an electronic keyboard is more specifically a synthesizer with a built-in low-wattage power amplifier and small loudspeakers.

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References