"To Be with You" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band Mr. Big, released in November 1991 as the second single from their second album, '' Lean into It'' (1991). The

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

reached number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for three weeks and topped the charts in 11 other countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, and New Zealand.

Background and writing

The song was written and composed by Eric Martin during his teen years, with guitarist

Paul Gilbert Paul Brandon Gilbert is an American hard rock and heavy metal guitarist. He is the co-founder of the band Mr. Big, and was also a member of Racer X, with whom he released several albums. In 1996, Gilbert launched a solo career, for which h ...

contributing to its melodic arrangements later on. Writing credit is also given to David Grahame, a songwriter working for the label at the time. The lyrics were inspired by a girl Martin knew when he was younger: "This girl had a lot of boyfriends who treated her like shit. I wanted to be the knight in shining armor, wanted to be with her. She wasn't having it. It never came to play." While in Gilbert's apartment at Yucca Street in L.A., he and Martin were laying out their compositions. Martin had a ballad called "To Be with You". Gilbert had his psychedelic rock song called "Green Tinted Sixties Mind". Both felt the two songs were strong enough to be included in their upcoming album, despite it being purely rock; and true enough, these songs remained throughout the course of their career as a group and as solo artists. Originally, "To Be with You" was not intended to be released as a single. But after it out of the blue started getting radio play, they had to release it. The band's

Billy Sheehan William Sheehan (born March 19, 1953) is an American musician. He is best known for playing the bass guitar with acts such as Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, Niacin, and The Winery Dogs. He is also known for his "lead bass" playing ...

told in an 1992 interview, "We never intended to release 'To Be With You'. We had another single. But some guy in Lincoln, Neb., just started playing the song, and the record started selling like crazy. It spread to Omaha and went all over the country." Considine, J.D. (1992). ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...

'' – via ''

Las Vegas Review-Journal The ''Las Vegas Review-Journal'' is a daily subscription newspaper published in Las Vegas, Nevada, since 1909. It is the largest circulating daily newspaper in Nevada and one of two daily newspapers in the Las Vegas area. The ''Review-Journal'' ...

''. (June 5, 1992).

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

described the song as a "campfire-singalong

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' noted that "headbangers get folky on this harmonious strummer". He added that "hand-clapping, sing-along chorus entices, while front man Eric Martin's voice has rarely sounded sweeter". DeVaney and Clark from '' Cashbox'' called it "an

unplugged Unplugged may refer to: *Acoustic music, music not produced through electronic means *Unplugged (B.A.P song), "Unplugged" (B.A.P song), 2014 *Unplugged (Modern Family), "Unplugged" (''Modern Family''), a 2010 episode of ''Modern Family'' Albums a ...

, acoustic guitar and harmony sing-along single". They also said that Martin "sounds like the quintessential rocker and is backed by some excellent non-electric guitar-picking by guitarist

, managing to sound very adept without an electric drill for a pick". Janiss Garza from ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' felt that "this simple little ballad" is by far the best song on the '' Lean into It'' album. Jonathan Bernstein from ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' wrote, "In a year sadly lacking in palpable

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...

s, these third-raters rode their

Trojan horse The Trojan Horse was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending before the war is concluded, ...

to pole position with one of the always-spineless genre's most puny entries, "To Be with You"."

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the song was directed by Nancy Bennett and features the band performing in a

railroad car A railroad car, railcar (American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is a ...

.Mr. Big artist videography
mvdbase.com The video changes from black and white to color around the halfway mark.

told in an interview, "Even our video was done way-super-ultra-cheap. When we tell people how much we spent on the video, they can't believe it. We got this video together dirt cheap. To see it beating up

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

's million-dollar extravaganza on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

is pretty amazing."

Track listings

* 7-inch single # "To Be with You" (LP version) (3:27) # "Green-Tinted Sixties Mind" (LP version) (3:30) * 12-inch maxi # "To Be with You" # "A Little Too Loose" (live) # "The Drill Song (Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy)" (live) # "Alive and Kickin'" (live) * CD maxi # "To Be with You" (3:27) # "Green-Tinted Sixties Mind" (3:30) # "Alive and Kickin'" (5:28)

Personnel

* Eric Martin – lead vocals *

– acoustic guitar, handclaps, backing vocals *

– bass guitar, handclaps, bass drum, backing vocals *

Pat Torpey Patrick Allan Torpey (December 13, 1953 – February 7, 2018) was an American drummer and singer, best known as the drummer and backing vocalist for the rock band Mr. Big. As well as playing for other various singers and artists such as; John ...

– tambourine, bass drum, handclaps, backing vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Westlife version

Irish

boy band A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform Love song, love songs marketed towards girls and young ...

Westlife Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporarily di ...

recorded a cover of the song and released it on their '' Turnaround'' album in 2003 and performed it live subsequently. It was also performed in their 2003 Unbreakable Tour.

References

External links