I Want You

Album: Act One (2016)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song from the debut Marian Hill album Act One finds their vocalist, Samantha Gongol, playing the seductress:

    I'd like to dress you up and
    Take you on a carpet ride


    When they started writing songs together, Gongol and Jeremy Lloyd (the producer in the Marian Hill duo) wrote lyrics to suit the music, which had a sultry, sophisticated feel. As they did, a character developed that Gongol describes as "a confident, empowered, take-charge woman." This character also appears on "Down," the breakout hit from the album.
  • Gongol invokes the "hate to see you leave but love to watch you walk away" trope when she sings:

    We could be so cliché
    I hate to see you leave but
    Love to watch you walk away


    In a Songfacts interview with Marian Hill, Jeremy Lloyd explained: "It comes from the feeling of the song, which is, "F--k all of the pretense and try to be cool about it." So it's saying, "Look, I could try to be wittier about it, but I'm so into you that I'm just down to be cliché and here's one."
  • The video was directed by Ian Eastwood, who also did the choreography. It was shot at YouTube Space NY, a production studio the company opened in 2014. In the video, a troupe of dancers interpret the song though movement before the Marian Hill duo join in with their own dance moves.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Glen Burtnik

Glen BurtnikSongwriter Interviews

On Glen's résumé: hit songwriter, Facebook dominator, and member of Styx.

How "A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss" Became Rock's Top Proverb

How "A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss" Became Rock's Top ProverbSong Writing

How a country weeper and a blues number made "rolling stone" the most popular phrase in rock.

Gavin Rossdale On Lyric Inspirations and Bush's Album The Kingdom

Gavin Rossdale On Lyric Inspirations and Bush's Album The KingdomSongwriter Interviews

The Bush frontman on where he finds inspiration for lyrics, if his "machine head" is a guitar tuner, and the stories behind songs from the album The Kingdom.

Corey Hart

Corey HartSongwriter Interviews

The Canadian superstar talks about his sudden rise to fame, and tells the stories behind his hits "Sunglasses At Night," "Boy In The Box" and "Never Surrender."

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17

Martyn Ware of Heaven 17Songwriter Interviews

Martyn talks about producing Tina Turner, some Heaven 17 hits, and his work with the British Electric Foundation.

Janis Ian: Married in London, but not in New York

Janis Ian: Married in London, but not in New YorkSong Writing

Can you be married in one country but not another? Only if you're part of a gay couple. One of the first famous singers to come out as a lesbian, Janis wrote a song about it.