To Be with You

"To Be with You" is a song by American rock band Mr. Big, released in November 1991 as the second single from their second album, Lean into It (1991). The ballad reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and topped the charts in 11 other countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, and New Zealand.

"To Be with You"
Single by Mr. Big
from the album Lean into It
B-side"Green-Tinted Sixties Mind"
ReleasedNovember 22, 1991 (1991-11-22)
Studio
Genre
Length3:27
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Kevin Elson
Mr. Big singles chronology
"Green-Tinted Sixties Mind"
(1991)		 "To Be with You"
(1991)		 "Just Take My Heart"
(1992)
Music video
"To Be with You" on YouTube

Background and writing

The song was written and composed by Eric Martin during his teen years, with guitarist Paul Gilbert contributing to its melodic arrangements later on. Writing credit is also given to David Grahame, a songwriter working for the label at the time. The lyrics were inspired by a girl Martin knew when he was younger: "This girl had a lot of boyfriends who treated her like shit. I wanted to be the knight in shining armor, wanted to be with her. She wasn't having it. It never came to play."[4]

While in Gilbert's apartment at Yucca Street in L.A., he and Martin were laying out their compositions. Martin had a ballad called "To Be with You". Gilbert had his psychedelic rock song called "Green Tinted Sixties Mind". Both felt the two songs were strong enough to be included in their upcoming album, despite it being purely rock;[5] and true enough, these songs remained throughout the course of their career as a group and as solo artists.

Originally, "To Be with You" was not intended to be released as a single. But after it out of the blue started getting radio play, they had to release it. The band's Billy Sheehan told in an 1992 interview, "We never intended to release 'To Be With You'. We had another single. But some guy in Lincoln, Neb., just started playing the song, and the record started selling like crazy. It spread to Omaha and went all over the country."[6]

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic described the song as a "campfire-singalong ballad".[7] Larry Flick from Billboard noted that "headbangers get folky on this harmonious strummer". He added that "hand-clapping, sing-along chorus entices, while front man Eric Martin's voice has rarely sounded sweeter".[8] DeVaney and Clark from Cashbox called it "an unplugged, acoustic guitar and harmony sing-along single". They also said that Martin "sounds like the quintessential rocker and is backed by some excellent non-electric guitar-picking by guitarist Paul Gilbert, managing to sound very adept without an electric drill for a pick".[9] Janiss Garza from Entertainment Weekly felt that "this simple little ballad" is by far the best song on the Lean into It album.[10] Jonathan Bernstein from Spin wrote, "In a year sadly lacking in palpable power ballads, these third-raters rode their Trojan horse to pole position with one of the always-spineless genre's most puny entries, "To Be with You"."[11]

Music video

The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Nancy Bennett and features the band performing in a railroad car.[12] The video changes from black and white to color around the halfway mark. Billy Sheehan told in an interview, "Even our video was done way-super-ultra-cheap. When we tell people how much we spent on the video, they can't believe it. We got this video together dirt cheap. To see it beating up Michael Jackson's million-dollar extravaganza on MTV is pretty amazing."[6]

Track listings
  • 7-inch single
  1. "To Be with You" (LP version) (3:27)
  2. "Green-Tinted Sixties Mind" (LP version) (3:30)
  • 12-inch maxi
  1. "To Be with You"
  2. "A Little Too Loose" (live)
  3. "The Drill Song (Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy)" (live)
  4. "Alive and Kickin'" (live)
  • CD maxi
  1. "To Be with You" (3:27)
  2. "Green-Tinted Sixties Mind" (3:30)
  3. "Alive and Kickin'" (5:28)

Personnel

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[34] Platinum 70,000^
Germany (BVMI)[48] Gold 250,000^
Japan (RIAJ)[49]
Digital 		Gold 100,000*
Netherlands (NVPI)[50] Gold 50,000^
Sweden (GLF)[51] Gold 25,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[52] Silver 200,000‡
United States (RIAA)[53] Gold 500,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history
Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref.
United States November 22, 1991
  • 7-inch vinyl
  • cassette
 Atlantic [53]
United Kingdom February 24, 1992
  • 7-inch vinyl
  • 12-inch vinyl
  • CD
  • cassette
 [54]

References
  1. McPadden July 8, 2015, Mike. "5 Hair Metal Ballads Inspired By/Ripped Off From Extreme's "More Than Words"". VH1 News. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  2. McPadden September 24, 2015, Mike. "The Hair Metal 100: Ranking the '80s Greatest Glam Bands, Part 4". VH1 News. Retrieved May 30, 2021. 'To Be With You'—the group's 'More Than Words'-esque acoustic pop-metal ballad
  3. Popoff, Martin (2014). The Big Book of Hair Metal. Voyageur Press. p. 202. ISBN 9781627883757.
  4. "Mr. Big's Eric Martin on "To Be With You", Getting the Band Back Together, and Power Rangers". Phoenix New Times. August 1, 2011. Retrieved March 28, 2019.
  5. "..::==Welcome to the RockSquad -- Eric Martin Mr. Big Interview ==::". Archived from the original on February 11, 2009. Retrieved April 20, 2009.
  6. Considine, J.D. (1992). The Baltimore Sun – via Las Vegas Review-Journal. (June 5, 1992).
  7. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Mr. Big – Lean Into It". AllMusic. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
  8. Flick, Larry (November 30, 1991). "Single Reviews" (PDF). Billboard. p. 82. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  9. DeVaney, Bryan; Clark, Randy (November 30, 1991). "Music Reviews: Singles" (PDF). Cashbox. p. 5. Retrieved October 31, 2020.
  10. Garza, Janiss (February 14, 1992). "Lean Into It". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  11. Bernstein, Jonathan (December 1992). "The Year In Pop". Spin. p. 42. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  12. Mr. Big artist videography mvdbase.com
  13. "Mr. Big – To Be with You". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  14. "Mr. Big – To Be with You" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  15. "Mr. Big – To Be with You" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  16. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 2072." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. March 7, 1992. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  17. "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 2097." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. April 18, 1992. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  18. "Top 10 Sales in Europe" (PDF). Music & Media. April 25, 1992. p. 26. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  19. "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. April 11, 1992. p. 22. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  20. Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
  21. "Mr. Big – To Be with You" (in French). Les classement single.
  22. "Mr. Big – To Be with You" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved May 16, 2019.
  23. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – To Be with You". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  24. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 17, 1992" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  25. "Mr. Big – To Be with You" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  26. "Mr. Big – To Be with You". Top 40 Singles.
  27. "Mr. Big – To Be with You". VG-lista.
  28. "Mr. Big – To Be with You". Singles Top 100.
  29. "Mr. Big – To Be with You". Swiss Singles Chart.
  30. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  31. "Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. February 29, 1992. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  32. "Adult Contemporary". Billboard. March 28, 1992. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  33. "Mainstream Rock Airplay". Billboard. November 9, 1991. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
  34. "ARIA Top 50 Singles for 1992". ARIA. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  35. "Jahreshitparade Singles 1992" (in German). Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  36. "Jaaroverzichten 1992" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  37. "The RPM Top 100 Hit Tracks of 1992" (PDF). RPM. Vol. 56, no. 25. December 19, 1992. p. 8. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  38. "The RPM Top 100 Hit tracks of 1992". RPM. Retrieved September 25, 2019 – via Library and Archives Canada.
  39. "1992 Year-End Sales Charts" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 9, no. 51/52. December 19, 1992. p. 17. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  40. "Top 100 Singles–Jahrescharts 1992" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  41. "Single top 100 over 1992" (PDF) (in Dutch). Top40. Retrieved April 14, 2010.
  42. "Jaaroverzichten – Single 1992" (in Dutch). MegaCharts. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  43. "End of Year Charts 1992". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved May 2, 2020. Note: RMNZ erroneously lists "To Be with You" as "Remedy" by the Black Crowes on both the weekly and year-end charts.
  44. "Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1992" (in German). Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  45. "Year End Charts: Top Singles". Music Week. January 16, 1993. p. 8.
  46. "Billboard Top 100 – 1992". Archived from the original on July 8, 2009. Retrieved July 30, 2010.
  47. Mayfield, Geoff (December 25, 1999). "1999 The Year in Music Totally '90s: Diary of a Decade – The listing of Top Pop Albums of the '90s & Hot 100 Singles of the '90s". Billboard. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
  48. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Mr. Big; 'To Be with You')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  49. "Japanese digital single certifications" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved August 24, 2022. Select 2015年6月 on the drop-down menu
  50. "Dutch single certifications – Mr. Big – To Be with You" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved September 25, 2019. Enter To Be with You in the "Artiest of titel" box. Select 1992 in the drop-down menu saying "Alle jaargangen".
  51. "Swedish certification, award". Paul Gilbert. Archived from the original on June 26, 2017. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
  52. "British single certifications – Mr Big – To Be with You". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  53. "American single certifications – Mr. Big – To Be with You". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
  54. "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. February 22, 1992. p. 23.


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