I Don't Want to Wait

"I Don't Want to Wait" is a song written, performed and produced by Paula Cole. It was Cole's second single from her album This Fire and later served as the opening theme for the TV series Dawson's Creek. Cole wrote the song and recorded a demo in April 1991 but did not record it for release until 1996.

On the US Billboard Hot 100, "I Don't Want to Wait" spent the most consecutive weeks in the top 50 without cracking the top 10, peaking at No. 11. The single ranked at No. 10 on the Hot 100 year-end chart for 1998. With a 56-week-long run on the chart, it is among the list of the 32 songs in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to have had a chart run longer than 50 weeks. In Canada, it is Cole's highest-charting single, peaking at No. 5 on the RPM Top Singles chart, and it also reached No. 27 in Australia and No. 43 in the United Kingdom.

VH1 ranked "I Don't Want to Wait" as one of the 100 Greatest Songs of the '90s at No. 81.

Composition
"I Don't Want to Wait" is in common time with a moderate beat rate of 87 beats per minute. It is written in the key of F-sharp major. Cole's vocal range spans from the note of F♯3 to the note of D♯5.

Music video
The music video for the song was directed by Mark Seliger and Fred Woodward. It was one of Cole's first videos, and was based on the concept of a woman who was immortal and had lovers in different time periods, all of whom died. The cut of the video was originally in chronological order, but for unknown reasons, a cut that was out of order was more frequently aired which led to the directors taking their name off the video, replacing it with the common moniker Alan Smithee.

In popular culture
The song has been referenced throughout popular culture. An episode of Family Guy, "Peterotica", involved a parody of Dawson's Creek titled Quahog Creek. The song was also used in a Bud Light TV commercial titled Jukebox.

In 2015, the song was used as the ringtone for a man's smartphone in a Burger King commercial for Buffalo Chicken Fries.

It was also featured in The Angry Birds Movie 2.