When I had your love I took it for granted
When I had your love I gave it away
When I had your love I never imagined that I could lose it one day.
So you pulled away from me just a little
Then you pulled away from me a little more
By the time I looked around you were long, long gone out the door.

I want it back
That feeling we had girl
I want it back
that summertime comfort and joy
that feeling that you are the only girl in the world
and I'm the only boy
I want it back
that sense of adventure
I want it back
when we knew we were on the right track
and you never know what you got 'til it's gone,
and I lost that love I was counting on,
and this thing we had we oh so fine,
and now it's no longer mine,
I want it back.

and here inside my mind, I can be all honest with myself
I can admit the truth to me and not to anybody else
that fifteen years of singing this namby pamby little ditty
has got me drowning in self-hatred, and self-loathing, and self-pity
'cause I hit it big with this song, yeah I went to number one
and when its run going up and down the billboard charts was done
I played the stadiums, and I was opening for the stones,
and now I'm not what they listen to on their little mobile phones
and the audience is dwindling, yeah, the audience is bailing,
and I try and I try to write a follow-up hit and I just keep on failing
and this frickin' song is a millstone 'round my neck, it chokes my throat, it
doesn't mean what it used to mean, like the way it meant back when I wrote it
'cause when we get to the chorus, yeah this is the funny thing
when we get into the chorus and they all haul off and sing
(everybody unfreezes)
BAND AND CROWD: I WANT IT BACK
(they refreeze)
the song was all regret for lost love, how I spoiled it,
but now it feels like the song is about my career gone down the toilet
and every time I sing it I get more depressed about it,
but I wouldn't have a paycheck if I tried to play a gig without it,
when I try to write a new song I'm all stymied, and I'm haunted,
'cause when I get up on the stage if I don't give them what they wanted,
they will throw tomatoes at me, will make it very clear
they want the song they came for, yeah, they only wanna hear

CONTI AND CROWD:
I want it back
That feeling we had girl
I want it back
that summertime comfort and joy
that feeling that you are the only girl in the world
and I'm the only boy
I want it back
that sense of adventure
I want it back
when we knew we were on the right track
and you never know what you got 'til it's gone,
and I lost that love I was counting on,
and this thing we had we oh so fine,
and now it's no longer mine,
I want it back.