Need Your Love So Bad

"Need Your Love So Bad", sometimes known as "I Need Your Love So Bad", is a blues song first published and recorded by Little Willie John in 1955. It was written by Mertis John Jr., Little Willie John's older brother.

"Need Your Love So Bad"
Single by Little Willie John
B-side"Home at Last"
Released1955 (1955)
RecordedNew York City, September 28, 1955
GenreBlues
Length2:14
LabelKing
Songwriter(s)Mertis John Jr.

Background

The first recording of the song was by Mertis John's younger brother, Little Willie John,[1][2] and was released by King Records.[2] Willie John's single achieved No. 5 on the Billboard R&B chart in 1956[3] and the B-side "Home at Last" reached No. 6 in the same chart.[3]

While using the AABA form and a harmonic layout typical for the R&B ballad,[4] "Need Your Love So Bad" has been described as "A tightly wound and intense plea for love ... quite different from the usual R&B ballad fare".[5]

The songwriting credit has often been incorrectly attributed to Little Willie John.[6] An example of this is the 1969 Fleetwood Mac album The Pious Bird of Good Omen, on which the original label gave the credit to Little Willie John.[7] The performing rights organization BMI credits the song to both John brothers.[8]

Little Willie John's version of the song was used in the soundtrack to the film Wonder Boys in 2000.[9] The song has also appeared on various compilation albums, such as The Very Best of Little Willie John, released in 2001 by Collectables Records as a CD.[10]

Recordings by other artists
  • Fleetwood Mac subsequently released a cover of the song as a single,[2] which reached No. 31 in the UK Singles Chart in August 1968,[11] and No. 7 in The Netherlands.[12] The song was reissued in the United Kingdom in 1973 as a double A-sided single with the re-release of "Albatross". This re-release was part of a CBS Records series entitled "Hall of Fame Hits". It went to number 2 on the UK Singles Chart.[11]

References
  1. "Little Willie John, Need Your Love So Bad by Mertis John". AllMusic. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
  2. "Little Willie John by Richard Tapp". Ace Records. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
  3. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004. Record Research. p. 228.
  4. Appen, Ralf von / Frei-Hauenschild, Markus "AABA, Refrain, Chorus, Bridge, Prechorus — Song Forms and their Historical Development". In: Samples. Online Publikationen der Gesellschaft für Popularmusikforschung/German Society for Popular Music Studies e.V. Ed. by Ralf von Appen, André Doehring and Thomas Phleps. Vol. 13 (2015), p. 31, 35.
  5. Grendysa, Peter A. (1993). Fever: The Best of Little Willie John (liner notes). Rhino Records. p. 1. R2 71511.
  6. Ron Wynn. "Fever: The Best of Little Willie John - Little Willie John - Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
  7. Rsindex.pictures-hosting.com Archived December 22, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  8. "Entry for Need Your Love So Bad, BMI". Repertoire.bmi.com. Archived from the original on January 30, 2016.
  9. "The AFI Catalog of Feature Films: Wonder Boys". Afi.com. Retrieved March 19, 2010.
  10. "The Very Best of Little Willie John". AllMusic. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
  11. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 205. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  12. https://www.top40.nl/top40/1968/week-44
  13. OFFICIAL SINGLES CHART: NEED YOUR LOVE SO BAD (Full Official Chart History) Official Charts (Home of the Official UK Top 40 Charts)
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