I'll Wait

"I'll Wait"
Single by Van Halen
from the album 1984
A-side "I'll Wait"
B-side "Girl Gone Bad" (US)
"Drop Dead Legs" (UK)
Released April 1984
Recorded 1983 at 5150 Studios, Hollywood, California
Genre Rock
Length 4:45
Label Warner Bros.
Writer(s) Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony, David Lee Roth, Michael McDonald
Producer(s) Ted Templeman
Van Halen singles chronology
"Jump"
(1984)
"I'll Wait"
(1984)
"Panama"
(1984)

"I'll Wait" is a song by Van Halen from their album 1984.[1]

It was the second single released from the album and reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Like "Jump", this song features keyboards almost entirely, and includes a synthesizer bass line. The song also features heavy use of Alex Van Halen's Rototom drum kit. David Lee Roth[2] and producer Ted Templeman[2] wanted to remove the song from the album,[2] while Eddie Van Halen and Donn Landee wanted and pushed for its inclusion.[2]

The song was written as a collaboration between Van Halen and Doobie Brothers singer Michael McDonald.[3] The original single's cover featured the band posing in the same location where the cover for the "Hot for Teacher" single cover had been shot.

The song's subject was inspired by a woman wearing men's underwear in a Calvin Klein print media advertisement.[2] Roth wrote the lyrics while the advertisement was tacked onto his Sony Trinitron television.[4]

Personnel

Chart (1984) Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 13

References

  1. Considine, J.D. (March 1, 1984). "1984". Rolling Stone.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Graff, Gary (January 9, 2014). "Van Halen's '1984' At 30: Classic Track-By-Track Review". Billboard.
  3. "100 Best Albums of the Eighties, 81 Van Halen, '1984'". Rolling Stone.
  4. "1984". Classicvanhalen.com.

External links