I Want You (Elvis Costello song)
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| "I Want You" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Elvis Costello and the Attractions | ||||
| from the album Blood & Chocolate | ||||
| B-side | "I Hope You're Happy Now" | |||
| Released | November 1986 | |||
| Recorded | March–May 1986 | |||
| Genre | New wave | |||
| Length | 6:45 | |||
| Label | Imp | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Elvis Costello | |||
| Producer(s) |
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| Elvis Costello and the Attractions singles chronology | ||||
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"I Want You" is a song written by Elvis Costello and recorded with his backing band the Attractions. It was released on his 1986 album Blood & Chocolate.
Featuring lyrics about an obsessive romance, "I Want You" was released as the second single from Blood and Chocolate. It has since been positively received by critics and covered by multiple artists.
The dark lyrics describe a tormented romantic relationship. The narrator recounts the details of his partner's infidelities, while repeatedly declaring "I want you" after each line. The music is taken at a slow, dirge-like tempo; towards the conclusion Costello offers a brief guitar solo that repeats two dissonant notes. In his album notes for the Girls Girls Girls compilation album, Costello wrote that "[t]he sound of this track was always going to be the aural equivalent of a blurred polaroid, so no apologies for the lack of fidelity. None are needed, it's just a pornographic snapshot; lots of broken glass, a squashed box of chocolates and a little blood on the wall."[1][2]
Due to its "bitter" lyrics, Costello commented, "That just that song is used as opening dance in weddings ... I humbly bow my head, and can only wish those people a safe journey."[3]
Attractions bassist Bruce Thomas later expressed his dislike for the song, commenting, "Elvis was trying really hard to do the psychopath in 'I Want You' and all that. It's things like that that really annoy me. He loves all that stuff! That 'fingernail scratching down the wall' and 'I want youuuu' ... this sort of Tony Perkins job. I'll give you the address of a good analyst! That's not soul-bearing or honest, it's just neurotic. I find it incredibly neurotic and tension-inducing, which he'd say is entirely the point, but I thought, well that's not the point of self-expression at the end of the day."[4]