Peak
15
Weeks
13
Score
1,801
Chart Year
1976
This song was written by the Motown songwriter Leon Ware and his songwriting partner "T-Boy" Ross (Diana Ross' brother). Ware originally intended to record it himself, but after Motown CEO Berry Gordy heard a rough version of it, he convinced Ware to give the song to Marvin Gaye. When Gaye recorded the song in 1975, the singer was inspired by his relationship with his nineteen-year-old girlfriend Janis Hunter. The couple met two years earlier when Gaye, who was at the time married to Berry Gordy's sister Anna, was working on the Let's Get It On album at the LA-based Hitsville West recording studio. Janis' mother was a big fan of the singer, and the two of them came into the studio one day to watch the Motown star at work. Gaye was immediately struck by the teenager and they started casually dating afterwards. After Janis turned eighteen, she moved in with him and they had two children together. A year after Gaye recorded this song, the couple married, but their relationship was mostly tumultuous and by 1979, they had separated. Ernie Barnes' Sugar Shack painting was adapted to be the cover of Gaye's I Want You album. Barnes was an interesting character: as a teenager, he preferred to draw while his high school classmates participated in sports. Despite his artistic inclination, he graduated with 26 athletic scholarship offers, and was immediately drafted into the American Football League (now the NFL). Barnes then spent five years playing offensive guard for the San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos and was designated as "Official Artist of the American Football League." The New York Jets owner Sonny Werblin spotted Barnes' artistic potential and replaced his football salary for a year, so he could devote himself to painting. In 1974, television producer Norman Lear commissioned Barnes to paint a series of original pieces for his new television CBS sitcom Good Times. One of them was Sugar Shack, which was in the show's opening credits for four years. Barnes died on April 27, 2009 after a brief illness. Robert Palmer had a UK top ten hit in 1991 with a medley of this song and another Marvin Gaye number, "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)." Diana Ross also covered the song on her 2007 I Love You album. Marvin Gaye was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Male Vocal Performance with "I Want You" but lost to Stevie Wonder for "I Wish." Gaye previously lost the award to Wonder in 1974 when "Superstition" beat out "Let's Get It On." Although they were professional rivals, their relationship was one of deep respect: Wonder would perform "Lighting Up The Candles" at Gaye's funeral in 1984.
want you uh, uh, uh I want you, the right way I want you But I want you to want me, too (want me, too) Want you to want me, baby (want you to want me, baby) Just like I want you Ooh-ooh, ooh Oh, I'll give you all the love I want in return, sweet darling But half the love is all I feel Ooh, it's too bad, it's just too sad You don't want me now But I'm gonna change your mind Someway, somehow, aw baby I want you, the right way I want you But I want you to want me, too I want you to want me, baby Just like I want you Ooh-ooh-ooh This one-way love is just a fantasy, oh sugar To share is precious, pure and fair, ooh Don't play with somethin' You should cherish for life, oh, baby Don't you want to care Baby, lonely out there I want you, I want you, baby (the right way) I want you But I want you to want me too Oh-oh, want you to get down, baby When I get down with you Yeah, darlin' Oh, get down, baby, ooh lord have mercy Listen precious, I want you a lot of times I wanted you, I wonder if you can last, oh baby, it's so good Ah I want you, the right way, baby I want you, baby (I want you, but I want you to want me too) But I want you to want me too, baby Got to, got to, got to, (want you to want me, baby) Love me sugar Oh the way that I love you Ooh, I want you ( I want you)
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apr 24, 1976 | 64 | 62 |
| 2 | May 1, 1976 | 52 | 74 |
| 3 | May 8, 1976 | 39 | 87 |
| 4 | May 15, 1976 | 35 | 91 |
| 5 | May 22, 1976 | 28 | 98 |
| 6 | May 29, 1976 | 23 | 103 |
| 7 | Jun 5, 1976 | 20 | 106 |
| 8 | Jun 12, 1976 | 18 | 108 |
| 9 | Jun 19, 1976 | 16 | 110 |
| 10 | Jun 26, 1976 | 15 | 111 |
| 11 | Jul 3, 1976 | 22 | 104 |
| 12 | Jul 10, 1976 | 55 | 71 |
| 13 | Jul 17, 1976 | 76 | 50 |