"To Be with You" is a song by the American hard rock band
Mr. Big. It appears on the album
Lean into It. The song charted in 20 plus countries,
many of them at number one, such as on the United States Hot
100. It also reached a peak of number three in the UK.
"To Be With You" is about a man who has his eye on a woman
who has recently experienced a broken heart from a previous
relationship.
The song was written and composed by Eric Martin during his
teen years. Paul contributed to its melodic arrangements later
on. Writing credit is also given to David Grahame, a songwriter
working for the label at the time (though exactly what
contributions each of the three men made to the song is
unclear).
In his solo career Mr. Big, guitarist Paul Gilbert performed
the song live using the riff from the Van Halen song "Ain't
Talkin' 'Bout Love".
While in Paul's apartment at Yucca Street in L.A., Eric and
Paul were laying out their compositions. Eric had this ballad
called "To Be With You". Paul 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; and true enough, these songs
remained throughout the course of their career as a group and
as solo artists.
Irish pop group Westlife performed the song during the
acoustic session of their 2003 Greatest Hits Tour, and it was
subsequently included on their
Turnaroundalbum later that year.
Australian male vocal group Human Nature included a cover of
the song in their 2004
Walk the Tightropestudio album. Their interpretation was
somewhat more pop/R&B than the original.
Andrew Spencer has also made dance remixes of the song in
late 2007, early 2008. The pop-punk band Allister has also made
a cover of the song.