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I Wanna Get Next to You

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"I Wanna Get Next To You"
Single by Rose Royce
from the album Car Wash: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
B-side
  • "Sunrise" (US)
  • "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is" (International)
ReleasedDecember 1976
Recorded1976
GenreSoul
Length3:56
LabelMCA/Whitfield
Songwriter(s)Norman Whitfield
Producer(s)Norman Whitfield
Rose Royce singles chronology
"Car Wash"
(1976) 		"I Wanna Get Next To You"
(1976) 		"I'm Going Down"
(1977)

"I Wanna Get Next to You" is a 1976 soul single written, composed and produced by American songwriter and producer Norman Whitfield, and most famously sung by American R&B band Rose Royce. It is the third official single from the Car Wash soundtrack. The song has also become a staple on oldies radio and on adult contemporary stations. It was the groups second and final top ten hit on the pop charts.

Background

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The song talks about how a narrator pleads love for a beautiful woman, except that the young woman is unkind, and does not understand his affection for her, as he wastes his own money calling her, but she does not respond, regardless, he still wants to "get next to" her. This theme is expressed clearly and concisely in the lyrics of the song's first verse:

Sitting here in this chair, waiting on you / oh, baby to see things my way.

But not a word do you say. / You won't even look my way, yeah

Girl I'm spending my dimes, / wasting my time

Talking 'til I'm black and blue. / Oh, can't you see I wanna get next to you? [1]

Unlike most Rose Royce songs, "I Wanna Get Next to You" does not feature typical lead vocalist Gwen Dickey; rather, it showcases male lead vocals from one of the band's trumpeters, Kenny Copeland.[2][3]

Chart performance

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"I Wanna Get Next to You" became Rose Royce's second top 10 single on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #10; it peaked at #3 on Billboard's Hot Soul Singles chart and at #9 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart. The song peaked at #10 on the Cashbox Top 100 Singles chart, spending two weeks in the top 10.[4] The song's strongest showing was on Record World magazine's Top Singles Chart which had it peaking at #8 on May 7, 1977, and spending four weeks in the top 10.[5]

The song was also successful worldwide, becoming their second top 40 hit in the United Kingdom, peaking at #14 on the UK Singles Chart.[6] Billboard's Hits of the World international listings showed "I Wanna Get Next to You" reaching #8 in New Zealand on July 3, 1977 while Rose Royce's first hit single "Car Wash" was still in the top 10.[7]

References

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  1. ^ "Soul Songs: I Wanna Get Next to You". Song Hits. 41 (137): 23. July 1977.
  2. ^ "Come on Y'all and Sing it for Me" Soul Train Cruise, 19 February 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  3. ^ "I Wanna Get Next to You" - Rose Royce (song review) @AllMusic. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
  4. ^ "Cashbox Top 100 Singles Chart" (PDF). Cashbox. 38 (52): 4. May 14, 1977 – via World Radio History.
  5. ^ "Top Singles Chart" (PDF). Record World. 33 (1557): 29. May 7, 1977 – via World Radio History.
  6. ^ "Hits of the World" (PDF). Billboard Magazine. 89 (18): 75. May 7, 1977 – via World Radio History.
  7. ^ "Billboard's Hits of the World" (PDF). Billboard Magazine. 89 (28): 81. July 16, 1977 – via World Radio History.
  8. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 258. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  9. ^ "The Official Charts Company – Artist – Rose Royce". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2010-09-21.
  10. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 206.
  11. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 501.
  12. ^ "australian-charts.com - Forum - Top 100 End of Year AMR Charts - 1980s (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
  13. ^ "Top 200 Singles of '77 – Volume 28, No. 11, December 31 1977". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. 17 July 2013. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  14. ^ "Top Selling Singles of 1977 | the Official New Zealand Music Chart". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  15. ^ "Old-Charts". Old-Charts.com. Archived from the original on 2017-11-10. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
  16. ^ "Top 100 Hits of 1977/Top 100 Songs of 1977". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
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