"Doesn't Somebody Want to Be Wanted" is a song written by

Mike Appel Mike Appel (born October 27, 1942)Eliot and Appel, ''Down Thunder Road'', p. 45. is an American music industry manager and record producer who served as manager and producer for Bruce Springsteen early in Springsteen's career. Appel was born in ...

, Jim Cretecos, and

Wes Farrell Wesley Donald Farrell (December 21, 1939 – February 29, 1996) was an American musician, songwriter and record producer, who was most active in the 1960s and 1970s. Career Farrell was born in New York, United States. Farrell's catalogue incl ...

and was recorded by

The Partridge Family ''The Partridge Family'' is an American musical sitcom created by Bernard Slade, which was broadcast in the United States from September 1970 to March 1974 on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. After the final first-run telecast on ABC in March ...

for their 1971 album, '' Up to Date''.

Background

Lead singer

David Cassidy David Bruce Cassidy (April 12, 1950 – November 21, 2017) was an American actor and musician. He was best known for his role as Keith Partridge in the 1970s musical-sitcom ''The Partridge Family''. After completing high school, Cassidy purs ...

hated the song and didn't think it was very good. In addition, he hated the idea of speaking aloud in the middle of the song. He hated it so much, he refused to do it.C'Mon Get Happy - Fear and Loathing on the Partridge Family bus by David Cassidy and

Chip Deffaa Chip Deffaa is an American author, playwright, screenwriter, jazz historian, singer, songwriter, director, and producer of plays and recordings. For 18 years, he wrote for the ''New York Post'', covering jazz, cabaret, and theater. He has con ...

, Warner Books Inc, 1994. pp 70–71 His refusal caused consternation with the studio and the record company, where the heads of both

Bell Records Bell Records was an American record label founded in 1952 in New York City by Arthur Shimkin, the owner of the children's record label Golden Records, and initially a unit of Pocket Books, after the rights to the name were acquired from Benn ...

and

Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. ''Screen Gems'' has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the de ...

, both owned by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

, got involved. Shooting of ''The Partridge Family'' was stopped so his manager and agent could talk to him over the issue. It was suggested to Cassidy that the song would achieve greater commercial success with the spoken interlude included. Cassidy finally caved in to the collective pressure and recorded the song as requested. When it was finished, he begged them not to release it: "It was horrible, I was embarrassed by it. I still can't listen to that record."

Reception

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' described the song as being "an even more intriguing bit of material" than "

I Think I Love You "I Think I Love You" is a song by Tony Romeo, written as the debut single for fictional musical TV family the Partridge Family. It was released in August 1970, a month prior to the debut of the ABC-TV musical sitcom ''The Partridge Family'' starr ...

Chart performance

The song went to #6 on

The Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), on ...

in 1971 and was on the charts for 12 weeks. The song went to #1 in Canada. The song also reached #6 in France and #9 in Australia. It was named the #13 song of 1971 on the Cashbox charts. The song was certified as a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

in March 1971.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Popular culture

* This was also the song that was playing before the

Emergency Broadcast System The Emergency Broadcast System (EBS), sometimes called the Emergency Action Notification System (EANS), was an Emergency population warning, emergency warning system used in the United States. It was the most commonly used, along with the Local ...

False Alarm of 1971 on

WOWO WOWO (1190 AM) – branded News/Talk WOWO 92.3 FM 1190 AM – is a commercial talk radio station licensed to Fort Wayne, Indiana, serving primarily the Fort Wayne metropolitan area. Currently owned by Federated Media via licensee Pathfinder ...

Radio. * It is mentioned in ''

Reservoir Dogs ''Reservoir Dogs'' is a 1992 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino in his feature-length directorial debut. It stars Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen, Tarant ...

'', as part of the fictional "K-BILLY's Super Sounds of the '70s" radio program. * The song is featured in the episode "''

Never Again "Never again" is a phrase or slogan which is associated with the lessons of the Holocaust and other genocides. The slogan was used by liberated prisoners at Buchenwald concentration camp to denounce fascism. It was used by Jewish Defense Le ...

''" of ''

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The original series aired from September 10, 1993, to Ma ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Doesn't Somebody Want to Be Wanted 1971 singles 1971 songs Songs written by Wes Farrell The Partridge Family songs Cashbox number-one singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles Bell Records singles Songs written by Mike Appel Song recordings produced by Wes Farrell