The song has received a largely positive critical reception, with a number of commentators highlighting Dylan's use of imagery, although some of the meanings are obscure.

Sophie B. Hawkins recorded what was termed a "breathy techno-MOR"/"quasi hip-hop"[3][4] version of "I Want You" for Tongues and Tails (1992) and released it as a single which reached No.

[9] Dylan went to Nashville in February 1966, with Al Kooper and Robbie Robertson from the New York sessions also making the trip.

[13] After Johnston had announced that recording had started, and confirmed the song's title with Dylan, guitarist Charlie McCoy asked about the song's intro, which had not been established; Dylan played the chord progression of the intro, and after the band had played through the first take, they discussed the arrangement again before the second take.

"[18] Despite the straightforward title, Mike Marqusee found the song to be "packed with enigmatic imagery and haunted by ambivalent emotions".

[19] For literature scholar Richard Brown, "the song shows a mastery of its apparently casual form ... it is neatly balanced between the directness of the repeated refrain and the mystery and interest of the material in the stanzas.

"[20] Andy Gill observed that the song's tension is achieved through the balance of the "direct address" of the chorus, the repeated phrase "I want you," and a weird cast of characters, including a guilty undertaker, a lonesome organ grinder, weeping fathers, mothers, sleeping saviours, the queen of spades, and "a dancing child with his Chinese suit".

[21][22] Gill reports that "the dancing child" has been interpreted as a reference to Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones, and his then girlfriend Anita Pallenberg.

[24] Noting Dylan's interest in classical literature, English professor Graley Herren hypothesized that the song, which references an undertaker, is about the narrator's failure to accept the death of a loved one, echoing the ancient tale of Orpheus and Eurydice.

[36] The reviewer for Cash Box described the song as a "medium-paced, blues-soaked plea for romance with an infectious, repeating rhythmic riff" that it considered a "sure-fire blockbuster candidate.

[43] Richard Goldstein of The Village Voice found that despite the "complex" imagery, the song should appeal to teenagers in Dylan's expanding fanbase as it expressed its subject in straightforward phrasing.

Craig McGregor of The Sydney Morning Herald found the song unremarkable,[45] and Peter Murray's brief assessment was that the track was "rather disappointing".

[48] Three years later, he performed it during the Rolling Thunder Revue, in a manner that journalist Oliver Trager called a "painful dirge.

"[59] In Rolling Stone, Paul Evans described the style of her version as "breathy techno-MOR";[3] the Associated Press reviewer called it "quasi hip-hop".

[4] Larry Flick, writing for Billboard, praised Hawkins' version for being "deliver[ed] with chatty finesse, amid a cushiony synth arrangement".

[60] Music & Media felt Hawkins "manages to completely transform the Bob Dylan classic" and noted it "sounds like Cyndi Lauper in a Sinéad O'Connor setting".

[4] Hawkins performed the song at Dylan's 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration at Madison Square Garden, New York City in October, 1992.