The quiet beauty of this Marvin Gaye make out song made this my summer jam in 1976. The background vocals were so damn hypnotizing and sexy, I really relaxed every time I heard this one on the way to my summer job at Great Scott! supermarket in Dearborn, MI. Perfect way to start the work day, dontcha think? Marvin was on a career high after the release of his protest album known as "What's Going On" with the hits "What's Going On", "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" and "Inner City Blues" made him a force to reckon with in 1971. His next LP firmly established him as the high priest of love, "Let's Get It On" and the title track hit number one on many charts, one week atop the Hot100 but six weeks at #1 R&B. That LP became his most sexually charged release yet. A few Diana Ross duets later, a live version of "Distant Lover" went top 30 and then he set about working on "I Want You". Enter Leon Ware, who lent his considerable talents to Marvin and helped him re-establish his lover man persona by co-writing and producing the songs on "I Want You". Ware had been produced by Berry Gordy in the early days of Motown and kept in touch with him. In 1972, Ware was working writing some songs when he met Diana Ross's brother, Arthur who was better known as T-Boy Ross. Ware has already written "I Want You" with some input from T-Boy and he gave him a "taste" by sharing the writing credits with him, meaning the duo would receive royalties each time the song was played. Gordy walked into the recording session, heard the song and "fell in love with it." Next thing Ware knew, Gaye became interested in the song and proposed that he and Ware work together on the "I Want You" LP, Ware brought all the instrumental tracks he had recorded for his own album, and the duo set about making a Marvin Gaye album. Using the same arrangement, they recorded the song with James Gadson on drums, two bass players Chuck Rainey and Wilton Felder, and guitarists Dennis Coffey (Scorpio), Ray Parker Jr (Ghostbusters) and Melvin "wah Wah" Ragin. Filling out the studio band were three keyboardists Sonny Burke, Jerry Peters and John Barnes, percussionists Bobbye Jean Hall and Eddie "Bongo" Brown with horn and string arrangements by Coleridge Taylor Perkinson. Gaye and Ware re-wrote all the lyrics to suit the stellar productions Ware brought with him and the album hit the stores April 1, 1976 a day before his birthday. Critics were initially nonplussed, but were eventually won over and it became his most controversial and influential work to date. With a definite nod to the up and coming disco trend with out giving totally into it, "I Want You" was an across the board smash. It has been covered by Stanley Turrentine, Robert Palmer, Diana Ross and Madonna. Even the Pet Shop Boys interpolated the lyrics of "I Want You" in "Between Two Islands" in 2002.

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