I Want You (Marvin Gaye song)

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"I Want You"
"I Want You" cover
Single by Marvin Gaye
from the album I Want You (album)
B-side(s) I Want You (Instrumental)
Released 1976
Format Vinyl single
Recorded 1975
Genre Soul
Length 4:34
Label Motown Records
Writer(s) Leon Ware
Arthur "T-Boy" Ross
Producer(s) Leon Ware
Marvin Gaye
Chart positions
Marvin Gaye singles chronology
"Distant Lover (live)"
(1974)
"I Want You"
(1976)
"After The Dance
(1976)

"I Want You" was a 1976 hit for American soul icon Marvin Gaye. It was the title track from the album of the same name.

Contents

[edit] About the song

The song was originally written by Motown songwriter Leon Ware and Diana Ross's younger brother Arthur "T-Boy" Ross. The song was originally intended for a solo album by Ware. However, both Motown boss Berry Gordy and Gaye heard the track and thought it would be ideal for Gaye.

"I Want You" is widely considered to be one of Gaye's best romantic tracks and reflects his love for his wife Jan who he had recently married. The song was the title track for I Want You.

The song became one of the most popular, though mostly underrated, songs in Gaye's catalogue. Gaye's version peaked at number fifteen on Billboard's Pop singles chart and number one on Billboard's Soul (R&B) Singles chart in April, 1976. A double A-sided club single with "After the Dance" reached the top 10 of the club charts in the US. A 2003 deluxe version of the I Want You album contained an alternative a cappella version of the title track sung by Gaye.

[edit] Other versions

Diana Ross revised "I Want You" for her "I Love You" album released in October 2006 as it was written by her late brother Arthur "T-Boy" Ross and performed by her close friend, Marvin Gaye.

Robert Palmer released a medley of "I Want You" and another Marvin Gaye song, "Mercy Mercy Me" in January, 1991. This single reached #9 in the UK charts.

The song was revised by pop star Madonna and British trip/hop duo Massive Attack in 1995. See "I Want You (Madonna song)".

The Aussie duo Savage Garden released an entirely different song with the same name.

"I Want You" is also the name of Australian television personality Toni Pearen's debut single from 1993.

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

  • BBC Review Op Cit. 4 August 2003

[edit] External links