Released in March 1992 as the first single from her debut album, Tongues and Tails (1992), the song achieved success in many countries worldwide; in the United States, it reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100.

[4] The song encourages people to be open-minded about this as well, with the line "Free your mind and you won't feel ashamed", which is meant to combat homophobia and queerphobia.

"[10] Dave Sholin from the Gavin Report stated, "When 1992 is done and gone, we'll likely remember the debut of this singer/songwriter from New York City's Upper West Side as one of the year's musical highlights."

"[13] A reviewer from People Magazine noted, "When a record opens with a song called "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover", you realize immediately you're not dealing with some delicate flower.

"[15] Jonathan Bernstein from Spin wrote, "Not only was her lubricious lament, "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover", the year's stand-alone Great White Pop Single, but it neatly supplanted "I'm Too Sexy" as the phrase on the nation's lips.

A new video was shot, after the MTV ban, that showed Hawkins in a more conservative outfit of jeans and a flannel shirt, performing the song on a stage together with a band.

Slant Magazine listed "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" at number 100 in their ranking of "The 100 Best Singles of the 1990s" in 2011, writing, Sophie B. Hawkins's debut single starts off discreetly enough, with the sound of New York City's underground, the soft shuffle of a drum loop, and an opening line worthy of Prince: "That old dog has chained you up all right" Prince, in fact, could have written the song himself, except Hawkins took the sentiment of songs like the Purple One’s "I Wanna Be Your Lover" to grittier, even ballsier territory.