<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> "When I Was Your Man" A 20 - second sample of "When I Was Your Man", where Mars sings about a lost love, while piano is playing on the background . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Problems playing this file? See media help . </Td> </Tr> <P> "When I Was Your Man" was written by Andrew Wyatt, Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine, while production was handled by the latter three production - team The Smeezingtons . Having chord progressions Am - C - Dm - G - G7 - C (verse) and F-G-C (chorus), the song is written in the key of C Major, with Mars' vocals range from the low note of G3 to the high note of C5 . The pop piano ballad finds Mars singing about a pre-fame heartbreak as he regrets letting his woman get away . It starts with a rolling piano riff; unto a nearly scat "vocal cadence": "Same bed but it feels just a little bit bigger now / Our song on the radio but it don't sound the same", as he laments the "single state" he created for himself . Next, he sings of his failings; to do right by his woman, "I shoulda bought you flowers / And held your hand / Shoulda gave you all my hours / When I had the chance". Its title phrase re-emerges in the final chorus, juxtaposed by Bruno from all the things he "shoulda" done, into things he hopes his ex's new man will do; concluding: "Do all of the things I should have done / When I was your man". In an interview to Rolling Stone, Mars revealed, while reluctant, that he wrote the song for his girlfriend, model Jessica Caban, when he was worried about losing her . In contrast with the song, Mars and Caban stayed together; remaining a couple as of 2014 . Mars also said, in the interview, that he finds it difficult to perform the song; saying: "You're bringing up all these old emotions again," and that: "It's just like bleeding!" </P> <P> For Andrew Unterberger of Pop Dust, the song "starts out dangerously close to' Drops of Jupiter' territory, but luckily, there are no fried chicken or soy latte lyrics to be found here ." He also noted that, "' When I Was Your Man' goes minimal with the musical accompaniment, featuring just Bruno and his piano, sounding halfway between an Alicia Keys ballad and Prince's' How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?' ." Andy Gill of The Independent called it a "McCartney-esque piano ballad ." Melinda Newman of HitFix thought that the song "sounds like a cross between Stevie Wonder and Elton John," also seeing "a touch of Michael Jackson" in his delivery . Sam Lansky of Idolator agreed, writing that "while evoking Elton John, the track sounds like it was recorded live in a piano bar, with audible background noise, like the spooling of film on a projector ." Robert Copsey of Digital Spy said that Mars lists everything he should have done for the one he loved before she broke up with him . </P>

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