I Need You

Album: America (1972)
Charted: 9
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Songfacts®:

  • This tender piano ballad finds Gerry Beckley singing about how he is ready to carry on now that his girl has left him. It seems he might wither in his quest, however, as he sings in the chorus, "I need you like the flower needs the rain."

    Beckley was just 16 when he wrote the song; at the time, he was in a band called Daze with Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek, who later became his bandmates in America. The trio, who were all the sons of American military personnel stationed in England, attended London Central High School, which served the children of those stationed at the nearby Air Force base.
  • This was included on America's debut album and slated to be the first single. The band reconsidered, however, and decided to record a new song to release as a single instead. That single was "A Horse With No Name," which shot to #1 in the US and #3 in the UK. "I Need You" was then released as the follow-up. Subsequent releases of the album included "Horse."
  • In addition to singing lead on this track, Beckley also played piano and bass. Dewey Bunnell was on 6-string acoustic guitar, and Dan Peek played 12-string electric. Session man Dave Atwood played drums.
  • Harry Nilsson released a cover of this song on his 1976 album ...That's the Way It Is. In his Songfacts interview, Gerry Beckley said that Nilsson was going to record the song as the follow-up to his #1 hit "Without You," but decided against it when he found out America was putting it out as a single. "By the time Harry got around to it, he was not in great shape," said Beckley. "His voice had taken quite a turn."

Comments: 7

  • Rena from ArizonaThis is such a melancholic song but it’s so beautiful!! I always sing along to it. This and “Daisy Jane” are my my absolute favorite America songs :,)
  • Ant from New JerseyWords can’t describe how I love this song! Never get tired of hearing it when it comes on the radio, it’s the kind of song that’s always welcome whenever it comes on. Some songs, even classics, no matter how good or famous they are you still may not be in the mood to hear them, nothing against them but this song I always am up for listening to.

    Thing is I never equated it with a girl or a wife, etc. Yeah it’s obvious it’s a love song of some sort but the sentiment expressed can be for family or a friend(s) and a girl, a love. Its critics make fun of it for being sappy & of the lyrics. Nothing sappy about it or wrong with the lyrics to me.

    It’s an interesting piece this song is. The singer ranges from sadness/somberness, to self reflection & maybe even a religious experience, “We used to laugh, we used to cry, we used to bow our heads & wonder why”. That sounds religious to me. You do that when you pray. Also from sentimentality “I need you, like the flower needs the rain” To pain, regret & self doubt “Then it came, I was put to blame, for every story told about me. About me, about me”. Those are some serious extremes there in tone & lyrics. Wonder if he ever explained what that meant, if he did I never read it.

    Yes I know the singer said it was about a girl he knew but it can be interpreted like I said about friends, family & even losing someone, about death, the lyrics DO fit that option you know.

    Great song, great songwriting, it’s my favorite song off of the album.
  • Rdh from North CarolinaThis sond “ I need you” is my heart and soul for a young lady from high school 50 years ago!!! I never really got to tell her, because I did not say what I really felt in my heart!!! My heart still hurts to this day, that I never opened my heart and give my heart and soul completely to her!!! Things just never happened the way I wanted them to!!! Yes, my faul, but If I could find a way to return to those yesterdays, every single moment would be different!!! Every adventure would be new, not just another version of those days and nights!!! I need you!!! Still!!!
  • Carl from U.s.America opened for 3 Dog Night at a concert in our area. They sang 'Horse with no Name.'
  • Romanong Kurong from PhilippinesI never liked this song. I never wanted to listen to it; I always skipped this cut. The funeral tempo makes me sad; it embarrasses me to no end. “Like the flower needs the rain... you know I need you.” As the song goes on though, in times when I could not help but not skip a shuffle setup, things start to make sense.

    The second voice sounds clearer and it’s the one I’d hear. The voice spells my detached involvement in the dismal situation presented by the singer. And the litany of “I” needing “you” simply fades senselessly. After engaging me to listen to one heart’s song, it drops me nowhere.

    This song is the ugliest in the album.
  • Roger from Scanterbury, CanadaThis is a GREAT song, then & now.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyAmerica's 'I Need You' was the highest charted of the eight other records with the same title, and they were all different songs. They were by Paul Carrack, The Impressions, Chuck Jackson, The Friends of Distinctions, The Euclid Beach Band, Ricky Nelson, N-Dubz, and Tim McGraw!!!
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