Released: September 8, 1970

Songwriter: William Hart Thom Bell

Producer: The Corporation Hal Davis

[Intro]
Ready, get ready, yeah...

[Chorus]
Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide
Gonna find you and keep you happy
Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide
Gonna love you and make you love me

[Verse 1: Michael + (Jackson 5)]
You can't run away (you can't run away)
From this love I got, oh baby, (you can't run away)
Hey baby, 'cause I got a lot, yeah
Anywhere you go (anywhere you go)
My poor heart got to know, oh baby
Hey baby, you can't hide from my love, oh no

[Chorus]
Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide
Gonna find you and keep you happy
Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide
Gonna love you and make you love me

[Verse 2: Michael + (Jackson 5)]
Anywhere you go (anywhere you go)
My poor heart got to know, oh baby, hey baby
You can't hide from my love, oh no, yeah yeah, mmm-hmm

[Jackson 5]
Ready, get ready
Ready, get ready

[Chorus: Jackson 5 + Michael]
Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide
Gonna find you and keep you happy
Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide
You better come on, baby, oh yeah, oh yeah
Gonna find you and I'll make you happy
Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide
I'm gonna find you now, yeah
Gonna find you and I'll make you happy
Anywhere you hide now, oh yeah, yeah

The Jackson 5

The Jackson 5 were originally formed in 1963 under the name, The Jackson Brothers. The founding members were Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon. Michael would join the group as the lead singer a year later, a move which pushed Jermaine to sing the backing vocals and play the lead guitar.

After participating in a series of talent shows, they entered the professional music scene in 1967, signing with Steeltown Records and releasing ten singles. In 1969, they left Steeltown Records in order to sign with Motown.

In 1975, most of the Jacksons had opted out of recording any more music for Motown, expressing desires to have creative control over their songs, as well as royalties. Learning that they were earning only 2.8% of royalties from Motown, Joe Jackson, the father and manager of the group, began to negotiate a lucrative contract with Epic records, which offered a royalty rate of 20% per record. The deal was completed in June 1975. As Motown owned the name The Jackson 5, the group simply renamed themselves The Jacksons.