I Want You (Savage Garden song)

1996 single by Savage Garden

"Fire Inside the Man"
"Tears of Pearls"
"Mine (And You Could Be)"
| released = 1996 05 27 In the United Kingdom, the single was issued twice, achieving its highest peak of number 11 during its initial release in 1997. At the APRA Music Awards of 1998 "I Want You" won Most Performed Australian Work Overseas. In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, the album version of the song was ranked number 87. In February 2023, Peking Duk released a version featuring re recorded vocals by Darren Hayes.

Larry Flick from Billboard noted that the song "has a jittery synth pop beat reminiscent of such '80s era Brit pop heroes as Duran Duran." He added, "Partners Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones are quite the harmonious pair, and they are photogenic enough to ensure instant teen idol status. Top 40 programmers should waste no time in slammin' this one on the air." British magazine Music Week rated it five out of five, describing it as "a great pop song akin to Roxette at their hook happy best" and "a challenger for the UK number one spot".

Two music videos were released for the song. Both videos present Darren Hayes with long black hair. The first video is a low budget version released in 1996 for Australian markets. It showed the band performing in a room full of disco lights and Darren Hayes singing on the back of a moving vehicle. The second video was filmed on a high budget and premiered in 1997 for international markets in conjunction with the single's worldwide and American releases. Directed by Nigel Dick, it features the band in a stylised futuristic warehouse and recording studio. It was filmed on 11 February 1997 at the Harbor Generating Station in Long Beach, California. The international version was featured on the band's compilation Truly Madly Completely: The Best of Savage Garden (2005), while the Australian version was not available until the release of the compilation The Singles (2015). In a 2022 interview with News Corp, Darren Hayes said he only recently discovered the reason he was filmed in a metal head brace for the video was “because the lead singer looks gay when he moves.” Hayes added, “They were just going to tell me it was an ‘artistic decision’. I'm still fucking angry about that."

RegionDateFormat(s)Label(s)Ref(s). (Reference(s))Australia27 May 1996CD, cassetteRoadshowUnited States11 February 1997ColumbiaContemporary hit radioJapan23 April 1997CDSonyUnited Kingdom2 June 199712 inch vinyl, CD, cassetteColumbiaUnited Kingdom (re release)30 November 1998CD, cassette

The song was used in Australian TV series Heartbreak High, during a dance sequence in an episode in which Katerina Ioannou (Ada Nicodemou) falls for her married dance partner. The song is also used as the ending theme of the anime adaptation of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, during Part 4: Diamond Is Unbreakable. This song would later be featured on The CW drama series, Supernatural, during the opening scene of their thirteenth episode of their final season, "Destiny's Child" when an alternate universe version of protagonists Sam and Dean Winchester unexpectedly arrive. The song is played at the school dance in Dawson's Creek in the second episode of Season One. The Ryan Enzed remix, The Chica Cherry Cola Song is popularly the theme for viral shuffledance video online.