I Want You (She’s So Heavy) Lyrics

[Verse 1]
I want you, I want you so bad
I want you, I want you so bad, it's driving me mad
It's driving me mad
I want you, I want you so bad, babe
I want you, I want you so bad, it's driving me mad
It's driving me—

[Instrumental Break]

[Verse 2]
I want you, I want you so bad, babe
I want you, I want you so bad, it's driving me mad
It's driving me mad
I want you, I want you so bad
I want you, I want you so bad, it's driving me mad
It's driving me—

[Instrumental Break]

[Chorus]
She's so
Heavy

Heavy (Heavy, heavy)

[Instrumental Break]
[Chorus]
She's so
Heavy
She's so
heavy (Heavy, heavy)

[Verse 3]
I want you, I want you so bad
I want you, I want you so bad, it's driving me mad
It's driving me mad
I want you, you know I want you so bad, babe
I want you, you know I want you so bad, it's driving me mad
It's driving me mad

[Break]
Yeah

[Chorus]
She's so—

[Instrumental Outro]

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About

Genius Annotation

“I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” is one of the last songs The Beatles ever recorded. It appears as the closing track to Abbey Road’s A-side, but the core of the composition was actually captured about three miles away in Soho at Trident Studios. Written primarily by John Lennon, the piece took eight months to record, mix, and master. Despite being the first song initiated for what would be their final album, it was one of the last to be completed on August 20, 1969—the last time all four Beatles would be in the same room together.

Lennon wrote the lyrics for Yoko Ono. According to the Beatles Bible website, it was a “direct outpouring of his all-consuming love,” though it ultimately consists of a mere 14 words. In 1970, Lennon told Rolling Stone:

A reviewer wrote: ‘He seems to have lost his talent for lyrics, it’s so simple and boring.’ ‘She’s So Heavy’ was about Yoko. When it gets down to it, like she said, when you’re drowning you don’t say ‘I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me,’ you just scream. And in ‘She’s So Heavy’ I just sang ‘I want you, I want you so bad…'

In classic Beatles-fashion, “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” required over 30 takes. The Fab Four worked for 18 straight hours at Trident Studios on February 22, 1969. This facility was adjacent to a residential district. Eventually, the police received a noise complaint and came knocking at the door, giving the frustrated artists inside one last chance to stick the landing. This famous encounter can be heard on Abbey Road’s 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition. Ever the perfectionist, John Lennon was still unsatisfied with any single take from start to finish, so they enlisted several engineers to splice together takes #9, #20, and #32—later combined with vocal overdubs, countless layers of guitar, and white noise from a Moog Synthesizer which crescendoes across an iconic three-minute outro.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

Translations
Genius Answer
Is there a hidden voice in the background of this song?
Genius Answer

Yes, there’s a mysterious scream at about the 4:30 mark. This phenomenon was covered in a March 2020 episode of You Can’t Unhear This:

Is this The Beatles' longest song?
Genius Answer

“I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” is The Beatles' second-longest release, at 7:47.

At 8:22, their longest official track is “Revolution 9” from November 1968’s The White Album, and their third-longest is “Hey Jude” from August 1968. The latter comes in at 7:11.

It’s worth noting, however, that The Fab Four’s longest recorded jam session was for “Helter Skelter”—also from The White Album. It was cut down from 27 minutes to 4:29, and is still credited as the beginning of punk rock music.

Credits
Produced By
Hammond Organ
Wind Machine
Moog synthesizer
Recorded At
EMI (Abbey Road) Studios and Trident Studios, London, UK (February, April, August 1969)
Release Date
September 26, 1969
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