"Baby I'm-a Want You" is a song by American soft rock band Bread. The single was released in October 1971 and became the title track for the album of the same name, released in January 1972.
It was one of Bread's highest-charting singles in both the U.S. and the UK. In the U.S., it reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in November 1971, the third of Bread's four top-five hits ("Make It with You", No. 1 in 1970; "If", No. 4 earlier in 1971; and "Everything I Own", from the same album, No. 5 in 1972). "Baby I'm-a Want You" reached the top of the Easy Listening chart and rose to No. 14 on the UK Singles Chart in February 1972.
Composed in the key of Ab major, the song employs the often used I-ii-IV-V chord progression.
Billboard called it a "powerful ballad performance." Cash Box called it a "soft ballad [that] returns Bread to their original sound." Record World said that with this song "Bread returns to its original hit sound" and "the guys should skyrocket back to the upper chart regions."
It was certified as a gold record by the RIAA. As with virtually all of the band's well-known recordings, the song was both written and produced by the band's lead vocalist, David Gates.
Chart history
Weekly charts Chart (1971–1972)PeakpositionAustralia (Kent Music Report)8Canada RPM Top Singles5UK Singles Chart14U.S. Billboard Hot 100Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - 3U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary1U.S. Cash Box Top 1003
Year-end charts Chart (1971)RankU.S. (Joel Whitburn's Pop Annual)37 Chart (1972)RankAustralia 57
See also List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1971 (U.S.)
References
Whitburn, Joel (1996). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6th Edition (Billboard Publications)
External links Song info at Discogs.com UK chart info at Official Charts Company