Need Your Love So Bad

"Need Your Love So Bad"
Single by Little Willie John
B-side "Home at Last"
Released 1955 (1955)
Format 10" 78 rpm single
Recorded New York City, September 28, 1955
Genre Blues
Length 2:14
Label King (Cat. no. 4841)
Writer(s) Mertis John Jr.

"Need Your Love So Bad" sometimes known as "I Need Your Love So Bad", is a blues song first published in 1955 and written by Mertis John Jr.

Background

The first recording of the song was by Mertis John's younger brother Little Willie John[1][2][3] and was released by King Records.[2] Willie John's single achieved No. 5 on the Billboard R&B chart in 1956[4] and the B-side "Home at Last" reached No. 6 in the same chart.[4] While using the AABA form and a harmonic layout typical for the R&B ballad,[5] "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".[6] The songwriting credit has often been incorrectly attributed to Little Willie John.[7] 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.[8] The performing rights organisation BMI credits the song to both John brothers.[9]

Little Willie John's version of the song was used in the soundtrack to the film Wonder Boys in 2000.[10] 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.[11]

Covers

B.B. King recorded the song in December 1967 under the title "I Need Your Love" for his album Lucille. 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.[12]

Albert Castiglia covered the song on his These Are the Days (2008) album.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Little Willie John, Need Your Love So Bad by Mertis John". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 2002-03-20.
  2. 1 2 3 "Little Willie John by Richard Tapp". Acerecords.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
  3. ↑ "Soul Greats, Marble John". Supersoulsisters.com. Retrieved 2010-01-03.
  4. 1 2 Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004. Record Research. p. 228.
  5. ↑ 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.
  6. ↑ Grendysa, Peter A. (1993). Fever: The Best of Little Willie John (liner notes). Rhino Records. p. 1. R2 71511.
  7. ↑ Ron Wynn. "Fever: The Best of Little Willie John - Little Willie John - Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
  8. ↑ Rsindex.pictures-hosting.com Archived December 22, 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ "Entry for Need Your Love So Bad, BMI". Repertoire.bmi.com.
  10. ↑ "The AFI Catalog of Feature Films: Wonder Boys". Afi.com. Retrieved March 19, 2010.
  11. ↑ "The Very Best of Little Willie John". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 2010-03-20.
  12. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 205. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  13. ↑ "Albert Castiglia | Biography & History". AllMusic. 1969-08-12. Retrieved 2016-01-10.

External links

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