I Want You by Marv Gaye - Songfacts

Contents:

• KEY TRACKS: MARV GAYE’S I WANT YOU
• ‘I WANT YOU’: MARV GAYE’S CARNAL CLASSIC
• MARV GAYE'S 10 GREATT SONGS EVER, RANKED
• 45 YEARS AGO: MARV GAYE STIRS UP A STORM ON ‘I WANT YOU’MICHAEL GALLUCCIMICHAEL GALLUCCIPUBLISHED: MARCH 16, 2021TAMLASHARETWEETMARV GAYE WAS STILL A PRETTY GOOD PLACE, PERSONALLY AND PROFSNALLY, EARLY 1976 AS HE WAS PREPPG THE RELEASE OF HIS 14TH ALBUM, I WANT YOU.HIS LAST UPLE OF ALBUMS – 1971'S WHAT'S GOG ON AND 1973'S LET'S GET IT ON – WERE CRIL AND MERCIAL HS, WH THE LATTER LP'S TLE TRACK GOG ALL THE WAY TO NO. 1. IN BETWEEN THOSE TWO RERDS, HE WROTE AND PRODUCED THE SOUNDTRACK FOR TROUBLE MAN. A TLY SOLO ACHIEVEMENT, TROUBLE MAN SERVED AS SOME SORT OF NSOLATN AFTER WHAT'S GOG ON'S SEQUEL, YOU'RE THE MAN, WAS SHELVED BEE OF S POLIL LEANGS.GAYE ALSO EMBARKED ON A SUCCSFUL TOUR AND RERD THE LAST OF HIS POPULAR DUET ALBUMS, THIS ONE WH DIANA ROSS, AROUND THIS TIME. WH TWO YEARS, WOULD ALL E TUMBLG DOWN, AS A MSY DIVORCE, DG ABE, ANOTHER NCELED RERD AND DWDLG SAL PILED UP. BUT 1976, ALL WAS STILL RELATIVELY GOOD.BACK 1970, WHEN HE WAS ASSEMBLG THE SONGS AND IAS THAT WOULD RULT WHAT'S GOG ON, GAYE WAS LEADG A NEW ARTIST-DRIVEN MPAIGN AT MOTOWN, WHICH SLOWLY AND TENTATIVELY BEGAN TO LOOSEN S GRIP ON SOME S STABLE OF STARS. GAYE – WHO'D BEEN AROUND OM NEARLY THE START OF THE PANY, SGG ON HIS OWN HS AS WELL AS PENNG SONGS FOR OTHERS – WASN'T GIVEN TOTAL NTROL OF HIS MIC UNTIL TROUBLE MAN, BUT FOR THE MOST PART HE WAS TSTED WH HIS VISN.THG IS, GAYE DIDN'T ALWAYS TST THAT VISN HIMSELF. IN SOME WAYS, THAT LED TO YOU'RE THE MAN REMAG UNRELEASED AT THE TIME ( FALLY GOT AN OFFICIAL RELEASE 2019). AND WHEN HE WAS PUTTG TOGETHER MIC FOR HIS NEXT ALBUM 1975, HE SOUGHT HELP OM PRODUCER LEON WARE, A MOTOWN STAFFER WHO'D RECENTLY SRED SOLO HS FOR MICHAEL JACKSON AND THE SMOKEY ROBSON-LS MIRACL. HE END UP PLAYG A BIG PART  SHAPG WHAT EVENTUALLY BEME I WANT YOU.BUT THE ALBUM'S RE – LIKE LET'S GET IT ON, THE SONGS WERE ABOUT SEX – WAS ALL GAYE. HIS MARRIAGE TO THE SISTER OF HIS MOTOWN BOSS BERRY GORDY WAS GOG THROUGH S FAL STAG AS HIS RELATNSHIP WH JANIS HUNTER, WHOM HE MET DURG THE LET'S GET IT ON SSNS WHEN SHE WAS 17, WAS HEATG UP. TRACKS LIKE "FEEL ALL MY LOVE INSI" AND "SOON I'LL BE LOVG YOU AGA" (WHICH CLUD THE LE "I'M GONNA GIVE YOU SOME HEAD") REFLECTED HIS TENTNS.LISTEN TO MARV GAYE'S 'I WANT YOU'GAYE AND WARE HOLED UP THE ARTIST'S NEWLY OPENED MARV'S ROOM STUD LOS ANGEL, WHERE THEY, ALONG WH MOTOWN'S FUNK BROTHERS SSN MICIANS, SPENT CHUNKS OF 1975 AND EARLY 1976 WORKG ON THE ALBUM. LIKE HE'D BEEN DOG ON HIS PREV RERDS, GAYE MULTI-TRACKED HIMSELF SGG DIFFERENT PARTS.HE ALSO BEGAN EXPERIMENTG WH A SYNTHIZER, WHICH PLEMENTED THE NEW MIL DIRECTN WARE STARTED STEERG TOWARD. MORE EXPANSIVE AND SWEEPG THAN MUCH OF GAYE'S PREV WORK, MANY OF THE SONGS ON I WANT YOU TOOK A SLOW-BURN APPROACH TO S MELDG OF SOUL, FUNK AND DIS. (THE OPENG TLE TRACK, FOR EXAMPLE, IS A THIRD OVER BEFORE GAYE STARTS SGG.) ELEMENTS OF JAZZ AND DOO-WOP ALSO FOUND THEIR WAY TO THE MATERIAL, BRIDGG GAYE'S '60S AND EARLY '70S MIC WH A NEW FUTURE.THIS ALL ADD UP TO A SLIGHTLY DISJOTED BUT MOSTLY PTIVATG ALBUM THAT SEEMED LIKE ANOTHER TURNG POT FOR THE ARTIST, EVEN UPON S RELEASE ON MARCH 16, 1976. THE THREE-YEAR BREAK SCE HIS LAST LP CERTALY HAD SOME EFFECT HERE, BUT THE MIL LEAP HAD ALMOST AS MUCH TO DO WH GAYE AND WARE'S BED VISN.THERE WEREN'T A WHOLE LOT OF ALBUMS THAT SOUND LIKE I WANT YOU AT THE TIME, BUT THE S SCE, THE ALBUM'S "QUIET STORM" SOUND SPIRED A GENRE, AS WELL AS AN ENTIRE MOVEMENT OF NEO-SOUL ARTISTS THE '90S AND BEYOND. THE EP BASS, SPACEY SOUNDSP AND GROOVE-BASED BEATS A WAY WERE JT A STEP OR TWO AHEAD OF THE BURGEONG DIS SCENE, BUT THE OVERALL PICTURE SEEMS MUCH WIR NOW.NOT THAT THE ALBUM WAS APPRECIATED AS MUCH BACK THEN. IT H NO. 1 ON BILLBOARD'S SOUL CHART AND NO. 4 ON THE LP CHART (AS THEY WERE LLED AT THE TIME) AND DID MANAGE TO SELL A LN PI. SOMEONE OF GAYE'S STATURE ALMOST ALWAYS CHARTED WELL G OFF A PREV SUCCS, AND THE ALBUM'S FIRST SGLE, THE TLE TRACK, MA TO NO. 1 AND 15, ON THE RPECTIVE SOUL AND POP CHARTS – WHICH ALSO HELPED STIR TERT.BUT I WANT YOU DIDN'T CLICK WH FANS THE WAY WHAT'S GOG ON AND LET'S GET IT ON DID. THOSE NTROVERSIAL LYRICS CERTALY DIDN'T HELP SPREADG THE WORD ON RAD OR NNECTG WH MORE NSERVATIVE-MD LISTENERS. AND SPE THE NO. 1 STUD SGLE "GOT TO GIVE IT UP" OM THE OTHERWISE LIVE AT THE LONDON PALLADIUM ALBUM 1977, THE NEXT YEAR'S HERE, MY DEAR AND 1981'S IN MY LIFETIME NTUED A DOWNWARD TURN GAYE'S REER THAT EVENTUALLY PICKED UP WH 1982'S MIDNIGHT LOVE AND PECIALLY THE "SEXUAL HEALG" SGLE BEFORE HIS 1984 ATH.IT WASN'T LONG, THOUGH, BEFORE I WANT YOU AND, EVEN MORE NOTABLY, HERE, MY DEAR BEME RNERSTONE RERDS GAYE'S LATE REER. THE LATTER WAS AN TENTNALLY UNMERCIAL DOUBLE RERD SIGNED TO NTRACTUALLY FULFILL A DIVORCE-SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT. I WANT YOU, AT TIM, N SOUND LIKE A SIAR MERCIAL KISS-OFF, BUT ME OM AN ENTIRELY OPPOSE SPOT GAYE'S LIFE, WHEN HE WAS A MUCH BETTER PLACE. IT'S DIFFICULT, 'S HORNY AND 'S FELY NOT FOR EVERYONE. BUT 'S ALSO ON THE VERGE OF SOMETHG REALLY EXCG AT TIM. TOP 100 '70S ROCK ALBUMS
• MOTOWN SPOTLIGHT: APRIL 2022 (MARV GAYE – “I WANT YOU”)

KEY TRACKS: MARV GAYE’S I WANT YOU

“I Want You” is the lead sgle off of the 1976 album of the same name that would go on to bee one of Marv Gaye’s most succsful rerds.

As thor Michael Eric Dyson wrote his book, Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Lov, and Demons of Marv Gaye:.

Gaye’s obssn wh the woman her late teens is nearly palpable the sensual textur that are the album’s ral and lyril signature. The 1970s were a of rurgence for Marv Gaye. It was this tr of succs that set the stage for Gaye’s next mil revelatn.

‘I WANT YOU’: MARV GAYE’S CARNAL CLASSIC

After meetg Motown songwrer and producer Leon Ware, and imprsed by new mic Ware was producg for his own solo album, Gaye cid to strike up a productn partnership. Durg the rerdg procs, the love of his life, Janis Gaye, also provid a nstant source of emotnal spiratn. The rultg LP, I Want You, beme another signature album Gaye’s sterlg llectn of releas, explorg them of sensualy, sctn, eroticism and rnal passn.

Wh the assistance of Ware and Arthur “T-Boy” Ross, as well as an assemblage of top-notch micians, Gaye was able to reach new creative heights, firmly cementg his stat as soul mic’s leadg man the mds of both ntemporary artists and his fans, who celebrated LP sgl like “After the Dance, ” “Sce I Had You, ” and the number one h “I Want You. In celebratn of what would have been Marv Gaye’s 77th birthday on April 2nd, 2016, RBMA spoke wh Leon Ware and Janis Gaye about their important supportg rol the creatn of I Want You. Marv Gaye Nottg Hill, London, 1976 John Mihan/Eveng Standard/Getty Imag When and where did you first meet Marv Gaye?

I was a big Marv Gaye fan. Janis Gaye.

MARV GAYE'S 10 GREATT SONGS EVER, RANKED

” – Janis Gaye For the time perd, this album was nsired a b risqué.

Marv Gaye - After the Dance Of urse, there was a huge sexual aspect to , but was so smooth and elegantly done that people uldn’t say was vulgar. – Janis Gaye Janis Gaye.

Marv Gaye - Soon I'll Be Lovg You Aga Janis Gaye. Marv Gaye - Feel All My Love Insi As you went by the wag area where the micians hung out, if you ma a left, you would go down this ty hallway to the ntrol room. After pretty much releasg an album a year sce 1961, Marv Gaye slowed down the mid-70s.

45 YEARS AGO: MARV GAYE STIRS UP A STORM ON ‘I WANT YOU’MICHAEL GALLUCCIMICHAEL GALLUCCIPUBLISHED: MARCH 16, 2021TAMLASHARETWEETMARV GAYE WAS STILL A PRETTY GOOD PLACE, PERSONALLY AND PROFSNALLY, EARLY 1976 AS HE WAS PREPPG THE RELEASE OF HIS 14TH ALBUM, I WANT YOU.HIS LAST UPLE OF ALBUMS – 1971'S WHAT'S GOG ON AND 1973'S LET'S GET IT ON – WERE CRIL AND MERCIAL HS, WH THE LATTER LP'S TLE TRACK GOG ALL THE WAY TO NO. 1. IN BETWEEN THOSE TWO RERDS, HE WROTE AND PRODUCED THE SOUNDTRACK FOR TROUBLE MAN. A TLY SOLO ACHIEVEMENT, TROUBLE MAN SERVED AS SOME SORT OF NSOLATN AFTER WHAT'S GOG ON'S SEQUEL, YOU'RE THE MAN, WAS SHELVED BEE OF S POLIL LEANGS.GAYE ALSO EMBARKED ON A SUCCSFUL TOUR AND RERD THE LAST OF HIS POPULAR DUET ALBUMS, THIS ONE WH DIANA ROSS, AROUND THIS TIME. WH TWO YEARS, WOULD ALL E TUMBLG DOWN, AS A MSY DIVORCE, DG ABE, ANOTHER NCELED RERD AND DWDLG SAL PILED UP. BUT 1976, ALL WAS STILL RELATIVELY GOOD.BACK 1970, WHEN HE WAS ASSEMBLG THE SONGS AND IAS THAT WOULD RULT WHAT'S GOG ON, GAYE WAS LEADG A NEW ARTIST-DRIVEN MPAIGN AT MOTOWN, WHICH SLOWLY AND TENTATIVELY BEGAN TO LOOSEN S GRIP ON SOME S STABLE OF STARS. GAYE – WHO'D BEEN AROUND OM NEARLY THE START OF THE PANY, SGG ON HIS OWN HS AS WELL AS PENNG SONGS FOR OTHERS – WASN'T GIVEN TOTAL NTROL OF HIS MIC UNTIL TROUBLE MAN, BUT FOR THE MOST PART HE WAS TSTED WH HIS VISN.THG IS, GAYE DIDN'T ALWAYS TST THAT VISN HIMSELF. IN SOME WAYS, THAT LED TO YOU'RE THE MAN REMAG UNRELEASED AT THE TIME ( FALLY GOT AN OFFICIAL RELEASE 2019). AND WHEN HE WAS PUTTG TOGETHER MIC FOR HIS NEXT ALBUM 1975, HE SOUGHT HELP OM PRODUCER LEON WARE, A MOTOWN STAFFER WHO'D RECENTLY SRED SOLO HS FOR MICHAEL JACKSON AND THE SMOKEY ROBSON-LS MIRACL. HE END UP PLAYG A BIG PART  SHAPG WHAT EVENTUALLY BEME I WANT YOU.BUT THE ALBUM'S RE – LIKE LET'S GET IT ON, THE SONGS WERE ABOUT SEX – WAS ALL GAYE. HIS MARRIAGE TO THE SISTER OF HIS MOTOWN BOSS BERRY GORDY WAS GOG THROUGH S FAL STAG AS HIS RELATNSHIP WH JANIS HUNTER, WHOM HE MET DURG THE LET'S GET IT ON SSNS WHEN SHE WAS 17, WAS HEATG UP. TRACKS LIKE "FEEL ALL MY LOVE INSI" AND "SOON I'LL BE LOVG YOU AGA" (WHICH CLUD THE LE "I'M GONNA GIVE YOU SOME HEAD") REFLECTED HIS TENTNS.LISTEN TO MARV GAYE'S 'I WANT YOU'GAYE AND WARE HOLED UP THE ARTIST'S NEWLY OPENED MARV'S ROOM STUD LOS ANGEL, WHERE THEY, ALONG WH MOTOWN'S FUNK BROTHERS SSN MICIANS, SPENT CHUNKS OF 1975 AND EARLY 1976 WORKG ON THE ALBUM. LIKE HE'D BEEN DOG ON HIS PREV RERDS, GAYE MULTI-TRACKED HIMSELF SGG DIFFERENT PARTS.HE ALSO BEGAN EXPERIMENTG WH A SYNTHIZER, WHICH PLEMENTED THE NEW MIL DIRECTN WARE STARTED STEERG TOWARD. MORE EXPANSIVE AND SWEEPG THAN MUCH OF GAYE'S PREV WORK, MANY OF THE SONGS ON I WANT YOU TOOK A SLOW-BURN APPROACH TO S MELDG OF SOUL, FUNK AND DIS. (THE OPENG TLE TRACK, FOR EXAMPLE, IS A THIRD OVER BEFORE GAYE STARTS SGG.) ELEMENTS OF JAZZ AND DOO-WOP ALSO FOUND THEIR WAY TO THE MATERIAL, BRIDGG GAYE'S '60S AND EARLY '70S MIC WH A NEW FUTURE.THIS ALL ADD UP TO A SLIGHTLY DISJOTED BUT MOSTLY PTIVATG ALBUM THAT SEEMED LIKE ANOTHER TURNG POT FOR THE ARTIST, EVEN UPON S RELEASE ON MARCH 16, 1976. THE THREE-YEAR BREAK SCE HIS LAST LP CERTALY HAD SOME EFFECT HERE, BUT THE MIL LEAP HAD ALMOST AS MUCH TO DO WH GAYE AND WARE'S BED VISN.THERE WEREN'T A WHOLE LOT OF ALBUMS THAT SOUND LIKE I WANT YOU AT THE TIME, BUT THE S SCE, THE ALBUM'S "QUIET STORM" SOUND SPIRED A GENRE, AS WELL AS AN ENTIRE MOVEMENT OF NEO-SOUL ARTISTS THE '90S AND BEYOND. THE EP BASS, SPACEY SOUNDSP AND GROOVE-BASED BEATS A WAY WERE JT A STEP OR TWO AHEAD OF THE BURGEONG DIS SCENE, BUT THE OVERALL PICTURE SEEMS MUCH WIR NOW.NOT THAT THE ALBUM WAS APPRECIATED AS MUCH BACK THEN. IT H NO. 1 ON BILLBOARD'S SOUL CHART AND NO. 4 ON THE LP CHART (AS THEY WERE LLED AT THE TIME) AND DID MANAGE TO SELL A LN PI. SOMEONE OF GAYE'S STATURE ALMOST ALWAYS CHARTED WELL G OFF A PREV SUCCS, AND THE ALBUM'S FIRST SGLE, THE TLE TRACK, MA TO NO. 1 AND 15, ON THE RPECTIVE SOUL AND POP CHARTS – WHICH ALSO HELPED STIR TERT.BUT I WANT YOU DIDN'T CLICK WH FANS THE WAY WHAT'S GOG ON AND LET'S GET IT ON DID. THOSE NTROVERSIAL LYRICS CERTALY DIDN'T HELP SPREADG THE WORD ON RAD OR NNECTG WH MORE NSERVATIVE-MD LISTENERS. AND SPE THE NO. 1 STUD SGLE "GOT TO GIVE IT UP" OM THE OTHERWISE LIVE AT THE LONDON PALLADIUM ALBUM 1977, THE NEXT YEAR'S HERE, MY DEAR AND 1981'S IN MY LIFETIME NTUED A DOWNWARD TURN GAYE'S REER THAT EVENTUALLY PICKED UP WH 1982'S MIDNIGHT LOVE AND PECIALLY THE "SEXUAL HEALG" SGLE BEFORE HIS 1984 ATH.IT WASN'T LONG, THOUGH, BEFORE I WANT YOU AND, EVEN MORE NOTABLY, HERE, MY DEAR BEME RNERSTONE RERDS GAYE'S LATE REER. THE LATTER WAS AN TENTNALLY UNMERCIAL DOUBLE RERD SIGNED TO NTRACTUALLY FULFILL A DIVORCE-SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT. I WANT YOU, AT TIM, N SOUND LIKE A SIAR MERCIAL KISS-OFF, BUT ME OM AN ENTIRELY OPPOSE SPOT GAYE'S LIFE, WHEN HE WAS A MUCH BETTER PLACE. IT'S DIFFICULT, 'S HORNY AND 'S FELY NOT FOR EVERYONE. BUT 'S ALSO ON THE VERGE OF SOMETHG REALLY EXCG AT TIM. TOP 100 '70S ROCK ALBUMS

Followg his stylistic rebirth at the start of the , the once prolific Gaye creasgly began to agonize over new material.

After a three-year gap, Gaye emerged 1976 wh his 14th solo album, releasg at a time when the clubs were eher mblg to the sounds of punk or shakg unr the weight of bodi on the dis dancefloor. Not that Gaye red. As s ver art, a 1971 patg by Ernie Barn, entled Sugar Shack, ma abundantly clear, there was no room for manver between Gaye’s erotic fantasi and the barely supprsed mands of his urg.

Gaye had stggled to rerd a follow-up to Let’s Get It On, but then he met Leon Ware, songwrer for Michael Jackson, The Miracl, and Mnie Riperton, among many others, and a man who was then workg on his own sexually-charged excursns.

MOTOWN SPOTLIGHT: APRIL 2022 (MARV GAYE – “I WANT YOU”)

Fdg that Ware’s visn was the perfect channel for his own obssn wh Janis Hunter – spiratn for “Let’s Get It On” and, subsequently, the woman wh whom Gaye embarked on a long-term affair – the pair worked on the songs together, Gaye pourg his most tense sir to every groove. Dmmer Jam Gadson is as laidback and the pocket as ever, workg up effortls groov for percsn duo Bobbye Hall Porter and Eddie “Bongo” Brown to fl and out of; sumptuo strgs take proceedgs om the sweat shack to the dis and back aga, unrsrg Gaye’s sensual flights of fancy.

It’s all so perfect that Gaye himself steps asi on several ocsns, allowg the band to riff on an “After The Dance” stmental and stoke the flam wh reprisals of the “I Want You” theme.

4 the US but baffled many: this wasn’t a llectn of songs, was a symphony, which, like the very sir that drove Gaye forward, had ebbs and flows, light and sha. Yet s mix of quiet-storm soul, terstellar dis, and Gaye’s tritely multi-tracked, doo-wop-bted vols, laid the blueprt for the R&B and neo-soul stars of the 90s and 00s, among them D’Angelo, whose update on I Want You rulted the lennial masterpiece Voodoo. Buy or stream Marv Gaye’s I Want You.

Facebook (MarvGaye).

Marv Gaye. Marv Pentz Gay, Jr.

Marv Gaye 1973. Marv Gaye was one of the greatt sgers of all time, who rerd some of the ft ever soul songs a short perd of time. Taken far too soon, Marv Gaye's mic took on var styl, om upliftg duets to heartbreakg ballads to socially-nsc 've taken his 10 very bt songs for the ultimate Marv Gaye troductn:.

Marv Gaye “How Sweet It Is” Live At Montrx Jazz Ftival 1980 HD. Wrten by the famo Holland–Dozier–Holland tr at Motown, this gave Marv Gaye his biggt h at the time song's tle was spired by one of Jackie Gleason's signature tchphras: "How Sweet It Is!