I Want You (Bob Dylan song)
Encyclopedia
"I Want You" is a 1966 song recorded by Bob Dylan
. It was issued as a single in June 1966, shortly before the release of its accompanying album, Blonde on Blonde
. A live version of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" was included as a B-side. Dylan revisited the song in 1989 on Dylan and the Dead, a collaboration with the Grateful Dead
.
writes that there are numerous failures, "about deputies asking him his name... lines about fathers going down hugging one another and about their daughters putting him down because he isn't their brother". Finally Dylan arrives at the right formula. Heylin points out that the gorgeous tune illustrates what Dylan explained to a reporter in 1966: "It's not just pretty words to a tune or putting tunes to words... (It's) the words and the music (together)—I can hear the sound of what I want to say."
Andy Gill notes that the song displays a tension between "the most direct address" of the chorus, the repeated phrase "I want you", and a weird cast of characters, "too numerous to inhabit the song's three minutes comfortably", including a guilty undertaker, a lonesome organ grinder, weeping fathers, mothers, sleeping saviors, the Queen of Spades, and "a dancing child with his Chinese suit". Gill reports that "the dancing child" has been interpreted as a reference to Brian Jones
of The Rolling Stones
. Clinton Heylin
agrees there may be substance to this because the dancing child claims that "time was on his side", perhaps a reference to "Time Is On My Side
", the Stones' first U.S. hit.
magazine noted the release of "I Want You" in its June 25 issue, and predicted it would reach the Top 20. "I Want You" entered the Billboard
Hot 100 charts on July 2, 1966 at #90, and Billboard tapped the single as a "star performer"—a side "registering greatest proportionate upward progress this week". It peaked at #20 on July 30.
"I Want You" was also successful on other charts. It entered the Cash Box charts at #59 on July 2, and was also tapped for strong upward movement. It rose slowly, and peaked at #25 on August 6. It was also a major hit in the UK, where it peaked at #16.
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
. It was issued as a single in June 1966, shortly before the release of its accompanying album, Blonde on Blonde
Blonde on Blonde
Blonde on Blonde is American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's seventh studio album, released in May or June 1966 on Columbia Records and produced by Bob Johnston. Recording sessions commenced in New York in October 1965, with a plethora of backing musicians, including members of Dylan's live backing...
. A live version of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" was included as a B-side. Dylan revisited the song in 1989 on Dylan and the Dead, a collaboration with the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
.
Lyrics
Analyzing the evolving drafts of the lyrics, Sean WilentzSean Wilentz
Robert Sean Wilentz is the Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor of History at Princeton University, where he has taught since 1979.-Background:Born in 1951 in New York City, where his father Eli and uncle Ted owned a well-known Greenwich Village bookstore, the Eighth Street Bookshop, Wilentz earned...
writes that there are numerous failures, "about deputies asking him his name... lines about fathers going down hugging one another and about their daughters putting him down because he isn't their brother". Finally Dylan arrives at the right formula. Heylin points out that the gorgeous tune illustrates what Dylan explained to a reporter in 1966: "It's not just pretty words to a tune or putting tunes to words... (It's) the words and the music (together)—I can hear the sound of what I want to say."
Andy Gill notes that the song displays a tension between "the most direct address" of the chorus, the repeated phrase "I want you", and a weird cast of characters, "too numerous to inhabit the song's three minutes comfortably", including a guilty undertaker, a lonesome organ grinder, weeping fathers, mothers, sleeping saviors, the Queen of Spades, and "a dancing child with his Chinese suit". Gill reports that "the dancing child" has been interpreted as a reference to Brian Jones
Brian Jones
Lewis Brian Hopkins Jones , known as Brian Jones, was an English musician and a founding member of the Rolling Stones....
of The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
. Clinton Heylin
Clinton Heylin
Clinton Heylin is an English author who has written extensively about popular music and the work of Bob Dylan.- Education :...
agrees there may be substance to this because the dancing child claims that "time was on his side", perhaps a reference to "Time Is On My Side
Time Is on My Side
"Time Is on My Side" is a song written by Jerry Ragovoy . First recorded by jazz trombonist Kai Winding and his Orchestra in 1963, it was covered by both soul singer Irma Thomas and The Rolling Stones in 1964.-History:Winding session arranger Garry Sherman "Time Is on My Side" is a song written by...
", the Stones' first U.S. hit.
Chart performance
BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
magazine noted the release of "I Want You" in its June 25 issue, and predicted it would reach the Top 20. "I Want You" entered the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot 100 charts on July 2, 1966 at #90, and Billboard tapped the single as a "star performer"—a side "registering greatest proportionate upward progress this week". It peaked at #20 on July 30.
"I Want You" was also successful on other charts. It entered the Cash Box charts at #59 on July 2, and was also tapped for strong upward movement. It rose slowly, and peaked at #25 on August 6. It was also a major hit in the UK, where it peaked at #16.
Covers
- The song was covered by Sophie B. HawkinsSophie B. HawkinsSophie Ballantine Hawkins is an American singer, songwriter, musician and painter. Her biggest hits are "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover", "Right Beside You", and "As I Lay Me Down".- Career :...
on her album Tongues and TailsTongues and TailsTongues and Tails is the first album by American singer/songwriter Sophie B. Hawkins, released in 1992 . The title is presumably derived from Act II, Scene i, Line 214 of The Taming of the Shrew, in which Petruchio asks Kate, "What, with my tongue in your tail?"-Track listing:all songs written by... - Brazilian band SkankSkank (band)Skank is a Brazilian rock/reggae band, begun in 1991, in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. , they had sold approximately 5,200,000 copies of their albums...
did a Portuguese version entitled "Tanto" in 1993, and covered the song in 2004. - Bruce SpringsteenBruce SpringsteenBruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
covered this song live, prior to his success with Born to RunBorn to RunThe album's release was accompanied by a $250,000 promotional campaign by Columbia directed at both consumers and the music industry, making good use of Landau's "I saw rock 'n' roll's future—and its name is Bruce Springsteen" quote. With much publicity, Born to Run vaulted into the top 10 in its...
, during the famous "Main Point show" held on February 5, 1975 and released unofficially on numerous bootleg albums - Les FradkinLes FradkinLes Fradkin is a guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer and record producer. He is best known for being a member of the original cast of the hit Broadway show Beatlemania...
released a cover of it on his 2006 CD "Jangleholic" - Arjen Anthony LucassenArjen Anthony LucassenArjen Anthony "Oswold Jr." Lucassen is a progressive metal/rock composer, singer and musician from the Netherlands, best known for his long-running progressive opera project titled Ayreon....
covered this song on his 1997 album Strange Hobby - Ralph McTellRalph McTellRalph McTell is an English singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s....
did a slower, piano-based version on his album Water of Dreams - Belgian singer Bart PeetersBart PeetersBart Peeters is a Belgian singer, drummer, television presenter and actor. Peeters studied Germanic philology and drama in Antwerp. There, he met Jan Leyers and Hugo Matthysen, with whom he worked later...
did a Dutch version entitled "Ik Wil Je (Nooit Meer Kwijt)" on his album Slimmer Dan De Zanger - Icelandic rock musician Árni Steinsson covered this on Þjóðhátíð in 1988
- Icelandic Singer Hjálmar Benónýsson covered this on Paddys 2003
- English singer-songwriter James BluntJames BluntJames Hillier Blount , better known by his stage name James Blunt, is an English singer-songwriter and musician, and former army officer, whose debut album, Back to Bedlam and single releases, including "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover", brought him to fame in 2005...
covered the song on the 2005 tribute album Listen to Bob Dylan: A Tribute - CherCherCher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
recorded the song for her 1966 album CherCher (1966 album)Chér is the third studio album by American singer-actress Cher, released on October 1966 by Imperial. Cher collaborates again with Sonny Bono, with Harold Battiste and with Stan Ross. The album is by-and-large a covers album and contains only one song written by Bono... - The HolliesThe HolliesThe Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...
covered the song for their album "Hollies Sing Dylan" - The Tallest Man on EarthThe Tallest Man on EarthKristian Matsson is a singer-songwriter from Dalarna, Sweden. Since 2006, he has released two full-length albums and two EPs...
covered this song.