History Main / IWantSong

** In the special ''Film/WhenYouWishUponaPickle'', a mysterious (and [[AnthropomorphicFood sentient) Wish Pickle]], which grants one wish per customer, is delivered to Sesame Street. At the beginning of the special, the song "Imagine Me", has Elmo, Chris, Ernie, Cookie Monster, and Abby Cadabby imagining the ways they'd like to live their lives.

** "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme" is this for [[CharacterOfTheDay Disrupto]]. "I want what I want when I want it and I want it now!"

* "I Want a Guy," the first single by Music/TheSupremes under that name.
* The Christmas Song "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas".

* The show begins with the prologue, "I Have a Dream", where Sophie wants to find her father and holds three invitations to the most likely candidates as she sings. The song is reprised at the end of the show, with Sophie now wanting a bright future, whether she knows her dad or not.
* The coda of "Honey, Honey" also counts. Most of the song is Sophie reading straight from Donna's diary, but the coda changes the lyrics to be from Sophie's own perspective ("I've heard about you [potential father] before. I wanted to know some more...")
* Donna has "Money, Money, Money", where she hopes to court a rich man so she doesn't have to work as hard running a hotel on her own ("In my dreams, I have a plan. If I've got me a wealthy man, I wouldn't have to work at all. I'd fool around and have a ball...").

* The prologue "I Have a Dream" from ''Theatre/MammaMia'': Sophie wants to find her father and holds three wedding invitations to the most likely candidates as she sings at the very beginning of the show. The song is reprised at the end of the show, with Sophie now wanting a bright future, whether she knows her dad or not.

* "Honey, Honey" from ''Theatre/MammaMia'': Sophie wants '''dad'''.

** "Somebody to Love" from ''Music/ADayAtTheRaces''.

* ''Series/BarneyAndFriends'' has "What I Want To Be", which the kids sing about what they want to be when they grow up. A variation of the song in the direct to video special ''Barney's Halloween Party'' has them sing about what they want to dress up as for Halloween instead.

* ''Series/TheNoddyShop'':
** "Someone To Be My Friend", [[CharacterOfTheDay Angelina's]] song, is about how she wants somebody to play with her after years being spent all alone.
** "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme" is this for [[CharacterOfTheDay Disrupto]]. "I want what I want when I want it and I want it now!"

->''"In almost every musical ever written, there's a place that's usually about the third song of the evening -- sometimes it's the second, sometimes it's the fourth, but it's quite early -- and the leading lady usually sits down on something; sometimes it's a tree stump in ''Theatre/{{Brigadoon}}'', sometimes it's under the pillars of Covent Garden in ''Theatre/MyFairLady'', or it's a trash can in ''Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors''... but the leading lady sits down on something and sings about what she wants in life. And the audience falls in love with her and then roots for her to get it for the rest of the night."''
-->-- '''Howard Ashman''', discussing "Part of Your World" from ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989''

->''"I want it all\\
I want it all\\
I want it all\\
And I want it'' '''NOW!"'''
-->-- '''Music/{{Queen}}''', "I Want It All"

* "Good Morning Baltimore" and "I Can Hear The Bells" from ''Film/{{Hairspray}}''.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': the first opening theme for both the Japanese and Western releases (which are completely different songs) fall in this category, reflecting on Ash's desire to become a Pokémon master. Every subsequent English language theme song is also about this.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

** Parodied in "My Fair Laddy". When Lisa asks Groundskeeper Willie if he wants a better lot in life, Willie sings, "All I want is a place somewhere." Then everything stops, as that was all he wanted. Bart suggests aiming higher, leading into a longer song, "Wouldn't It Be Adequate?" ([[SongParody a parody of "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?"]] from ''Theatre/MyFairLady''), where Willie would like such things as his shack repaired, matching shoes, and underwear for when he's wearing a kilt.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/belle_hope_song_2427.jpg]]]]

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* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwodCa4t7X4 "What More is Out There?"]] for the human Twilight Sparkle, where she sings about her longing for an opportunity outside the gilded cage of Crystal Prep. [[https://youtu.be/Y4E3KPiha_Y Was originally recorded]] as a DistantDuet between Twilight and Sunset Shimmer (which would’ve made it a musical ActingForTwo instance for Creator/RebeccaShoichet), where the latter wonders whether there’d be more to life if she returned to Equestria; this section was cut after a relevant subplot was deleted.

I don’t care about clever I don’t care about funny\\

** Also "It Won't Be Long Now”, sung by one of the Heroines, and "When You're Home", a duet.

* ‘’Theatre/StarlightExpress’’ has several, including portions of "Call Me Rusty", and of course "Starlight Express".

* Andrew Lippa’s take on ''Literature/TheWildParty'' has "Out of the Blue" expressing Queenie's desire for change. Later in the musical is "Tell me Something" which reveals what Black wants.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouseMovie'', Lincoln is [[OvershadowedByAwesome overshadowed by his ten sisters, who are all exceptionally talented and accomplished at what they do]], from Lori’s golf to Lynn Jr.’s various sports to Lisa’s genius-level intellect. Lincoln sings "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pokwn32z2pY Ordinary Me]]" about [[IJustWantToBeSpecial wanting to be special]], too, and shine like his sisters.

* The [[TitleTrack Title Song]] from the musical adaptation of ''Film/{{Carrie}}'' is all about Carrie's desire to be accepted and for someone to call her by her name. It later gets a DarkReprise both during the climax of the prom and from her mother as a lullaby [[spoiler:before she murders Carrie.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'': The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's - If "Beyond the Barn" doesn't fit this to a T, I don't know what does.

* "Valjean's Soliloquy" from ''Theatre/LesMiserables'': after being saved by the bishop, Valjean is able to admit that he wants the '''dignity''' denied to him in prison.

* In ''Film/CannibalTheMusical'' the heroes sing a song about what they want in life called "That's All I'm Asking For".

* "Maybe" is for all the foster girls in ''Film/{{Annie|2014}}''.

* Parodied in ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' -- Prince Herbert [[InvokedTrope repeatedly attempts]] to sing one of these, but his father [[DefiedTrope always puts a stop to it]]. It's only when Herbert turns it into a CrowdSong he manages to get one started.
** Which is made HilariousInHindsight due to the existence of ''{{Theatre/Spamalot}}''.

* Arguably "Evermore" from ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast2017'' counts as Prince Adam/Beast's version of an 'I want song'.

* ''Theatre/{{Assassins}}'' features a Deconstruction of this; the opening theme, "Everybody's Got the Right" is a song about how the characters in the play have the right to follow their dreams. Of course, said characters include the likes of John Wilkes Booth, Charles Guiteau, and John Hinckley, so it's not quite as inspiring as it might seem at first glance.

* "Buenos Aires" from ''Theatre/{{Evita}}''.
** "Buenos Aires" is more of a "Not I'm starting to get what I want" song than an "I want" song. A better example would be "Eva, Beware" which appears right before "Buenos Aires", in which she's whining that she wants her (current) lover to take her to the Big City with him.

** "Happy To Keep His Dinner Warm" is Rosemary's.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwodCa4t7X4 "What More is Out There?"]] for the human Twilight Sparkle, where she sings about her longing for an opportunity outside the gilded cage of Crystal Prep. [[https://youtu.be/Y4E3KPiha_Y Was originally recorded]] as a DistantDuet between Twilight and Sunset Shimmer (which would’ve made it a musical [[TalkingToHimself Talking to Herself]] instance for Creator/RebeccaShoichet), where the latter wonders whether there’d be more to life if she returned to Equestria; this section was cut after a relevant subplot was deleted.

** ** In "The Baljeatles", Baljeet sings an angry heavy metal song...called "Gimme a Grade", in response to his fears for [[BerserkButton getting a bad grade being in vain]]. Regardless, the song is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVhGWmljQEM OUTSTANDING]].

** ** In "The Baljeatles", Baljeet sings an angry heavy metal song...called "Gimme a Grade", in response to his fears for [[BerserkButton getting a bad grade being in vain]]]. Regardless, the song is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVhGWmljQEM OUTSTANDING]].