Wanna

A Guitar Pop Playlist About Desire & Denial

Jun 13, 2024

Wanna.

No word better captures the beating rock and roll heart of desire.

Equal parts contraction (“want to”) and snotty slang (rhymes with “gonna”), “Wanna” is a powerful pronouncement masquerading as a momentary flight of fancy. So, it makes perfect sense that it is often used in guitar pop song titles.

For proof, look no further than classics like “I Wanna Be Your Man” by both The Rolling Stones and The Beatles (it’s a Lennon/McCartney song), “Do Anything You Wanna Do” by Eddie & The Hotrods, “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” by The Rubinoos, “I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend” by Nikki and The Corvettes, “Do You Wanna Hold Me?” by Bow Wow Wow, and “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes” by Elvis Costello & The Attractions, to name a few.

Other times, “Wanna” songs are about denial as with “I Don’t Wanna Hear It” by Shoes, “I Don’t Wanna Fight” by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, “I Don’t Wanna Be Friends With You” by Shop Assistants, “I Don’t Wanna Surrender” by Extra Arms, and “I Don’t Wanna Know” by The Whiffs, among many others. (My old band Tsar even got in on the action with our song “I Don’t Wanna Break Up.”)

One of the best known “Wanna” recordings is “Do You Wanna Dance?” by The Beach Boys, a cover of Bobby Freeman’s 1958 single that originally used proper grammar in the title.

Listen to Freeman’s vocal delivery, however, and it’s no surprise that The Beach Boys leaned into the slangy contraction. The Beach Boys 1965 version also seemed to take some stylistic cues from Cliff Richard & The Shadows’ 1962 cover and Del Shannon’s take from 1964.

The Mamas and The Papas covered the track in 1966, and so did John Lennon in 1975. Another band that famously paid homage to Freeman’s hit was Ramones, as featured on their 1977 album Rocket To Russia and in the 1979 cult film Rock ‘n’ Roll High School.

For my money, no band is more directly connected with “Wanna” than Ramones. Four tracks on their 1976 self-titled debut feature the word, including “I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement" and “I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You.” (Dee Dee Ramone once said, “We didn’t have a positive song until we wrote ‘Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue!’”) A few other Ramones “Wanna” songs include “I Wanna Be Sedated,” “I Wanna Live” and a cover of the Tom Waits’ “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up.”

I recently tumbled down a “Wanna” rabbit hole and decided to put a playlist together. Below you’ll find 40 guitar pop songs that feature that word in the title.