“Come Back to Me” is the fifth single by

Arjen Anthony Lucassen Arjen Anthony Lucassen (born 3 April 1960) is a Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer best known for his long-running progressive metal/rock opera project Ayreon. Lucassen started his career in 1980 as the ...

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

Ayreon Ayreon is a musical project by Dutch songwriter, singer, musician and record producer Arjen Anthony Lucassen. Ayreon's music is described as progressive rock, progressive metal and power metal sometimes combined with genres such as folk, electro ...

, released on 2005 from its sixth album, ''

The Human Equation ''The Human Equation'' is the sixth album from the progressive rock project Ayreon by Dutch musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen, released on 25 May 2004 via Inside Out Music. As with other Ayreon albums, it features guest appearances from several mu ...

'', in which the song was called “Day Seven: Hope”. The song is written, composed, produced and mixed by Lucassen, who is also performing

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, bass and

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

on it. Lucassen is portraying a character called Best Friend, while

James LaBrie Kevin James LaBrie (born May 5, 1963) is a Canadian singer, best known as the lead singer of American progressive metal band Dream Theater, which he has been fronting since 1991. Early life Kevin James LaBrie was born in Penetanguishene, Ontar ...

from

Dream Theater Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of the ...

also sing as the album's main character, Me. "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 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 growls. In February 2009, it was announced that After Forever had disbanded. Singer Floor Jans ...

and Cleem Determeijer are playing keyboards, while Peter Vink is playing bass. A video clip was also released.

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

#Come Back to Me - 3:00 #August Fire - 2:42 #

When I'm Sixty-Four "When I'm Sixty-Four" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon–McCartney) and released on their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. McCartney wrote the song when he was ab ...

(

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

cover) - 2:52 #Back 2 Me ance Mix by Two Maniacs- 3:20 #Come Back to Me (video clip) #Making of (video)

Personnel

Arjen Lucassen Arjen Anthony Lucassen (born 3 April 1960) is a Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer best known for his long-running progressive metal/rock opera project Ayreon. Lucassen started his career in 1980 as the ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

electronic keyboard An electronic keyboard, portable keyboard, or digital keyboard is an electronic musical instrument, an electronic derivative of keyboard instruments. Electronic keyboards include synthesizers, digital pianos, stage pianos, electronic organs an ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

(

) - vocals * Cleem Determeijer - keyboards *Joost van den Broek (

) - keyboards *

Peter Vink Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a s ...

- bass guitar *

Ed Warby Edward R. Warby (born 7 March 1968) is a Dutch musician, best known as the drummer for death metal band Gorefest and progressive rock/metal project Ayreon. He also appeared in the band Agressor in 1982 and joined the Eindhoven-based metal band ...

(

Gorefest Gorefest was a Dutch death metal band from Goes in Zeeland. It was founded in 1989 by Jan-Chris de Koeijer, Frank Harthoorn, Alex van Schaik and Marc Hoogendoorn. History Within two months of existence Gorefest recorded their first demo. A ...

) -

drum kit A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player ( drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsti ...

References

Come Back to Me page at Ayreon's official website

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Come Back To Me (Ayreon Song) 2005 singles Ayreon songs 2004 songs