Rest in Peace Eric Carmen
I Wanna Be With You - The Raspberries
Sad to hear of Eric Carmen’s passing yesterday at the age of 74. He has quite the career to look back on, both relating to the songs he did on his own and the songs he performed with The Raspberries. While I love lots of the stuff he did, a special place in my heart will forever be reserved for “I Wanna Be With You”.
It’s one of those tunes that lives in your mind, the type that could go unplayed but pick up right where it left off when the first couple seconds roll out. “I Wanna Be With You” is good with this aspect, since it has a pretty recognizable start. To me, it lives in the same vein as Springsteen’s “Born to Run” — both tracks have a ferocious snare roll that leads into guitar chords that just ooze power. Even if you couldn’t recognize it just from the instrumentals, Carmen doesn’t hesitate to get into the chorus, singing about the length of a sentence before the punctuating “oh!” that leads into the familiar refrain. This is the main earworm of the song, made even more iconic by the high note he absolutely crushed on “bad”. Then it gets even BETTER (if you can believe it) with a breakdown that allows for the tight harmonies sung on an “ooo” to be on full shining display.
“I Wanna Be With You” is a song that puts the individual emotions that stem from love on full display. To me, it’s a song that expresses the rollercoaster of love, from the tender, gentle moments that are clear in the falsetto to the more wanting, confident moments that manifest themselves in the heavier vocals. All in all it’s a beautiful song, as all of The Raspberries' tunes were. Thank you for the music Eric Carmen. Cleveland loves you!
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