I'll Wait

"I'll Wait"
Single by Van Halen
from the album 1984
B-side "Girl Gone Bad" (US)
"Drop Dead Legs" (UK)
Released April 1984
Recorded
Genre Synthrock
Length 4:40
Label Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s) Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony, David Lee Roth, Michael McDonald
Producer(s) Ted Templeman
Van Halen singles chronology
"Jump"
(1984)		 "I'll Wait"
(1984)		 "Panama"
(1984)

"Jump"
(1984)		 "I'll Wait"
(1984)		 "Panama"
(1984)

"I'll Wait" is a song by the American rock band Van Halen, taken from their sixth studio album, 1984 (1984). The song was written by band members Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen, Michael Anthony, David Lee Roth and Michael McDonald,[1] and produced by Ted Templeman.[2]

It was the second single released from the record and reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Like "Jump", this song features keyboards almost entirely, and includes a synthesizer bass line. The song also features heavy use of Alex Van Halen's Rototom drum kit. David Lee Roth[3] and producer Ted Templeman[3] wanted to remove the song from the album,[3] while Eddie Van Halen and Donn Landee wanted and pushed for its inclusion.[3]

Despite the song being a hit, no video was ever filmed for it.

Background

The song was written as a collaboration between Van Halen and Doobie Brothers singer Michael McDonald. McDonald was brought in by Templeman when Van Halen got stuck completing the song.[4] The single's original cover featured the band posing in the same location where the cover for the "Hot for Teacher" single had been shot.

The song's subject was inspired by a woman wearing men's underwear in a Calvin Klein print media advertisement.[3] Roth wrote the lyrics while the advertisement was tacked onto his Sony Trinitron television.[5]

Track listing

US 7" single

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."I'll Wait" (radio edit)4:10
Side B
No.TitleLength
1."Girl Gone Bad"4:33

UK 7" single/US 12" single

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."I'll Wait" (radio edit)4:10
Side B
No.TitleLength
1."Drop Dead Legs"4:13

Personnel

Charts

Chart (1984) Peak position
US Billboard Hot 100 13

References

  1. ↑ Giles, Jeff (March 1, 1984). "1984". Ultimate Classic Rock.
  2. ↑ Considine, J.D. (March 1, 1984). "1984". Rolling Stone.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Graff, Gary (January 9, 2014). "Van Halen's '1984' At 30: Classic Track-By-Track Review". Billboard.
  4. ↑ "100 Best Albums of the Eighties, 81 Van Halen, '1984'". Rolling Stone.
  5. ↑ "1984". Classicvanhalen.com.


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