Released May 1978 Recorded January 1978 Length 3:37 | Format 7" Vinyl Genre Soft rock | |
B-side "I Still Wish the Very Best for You" | ||
"You Needed Me" is a song written by Randy Goodrum, who describes it as being about "unconditional undeserved love". It was a number one hit single in the United States in 1978 for Canadian singer Anne Murray, for which she won a Grammy Award. In 1999, Irish pop band Boyzone recorded a hit cover of the song that hit number one in the UK Singles Chart.
Contents
Original Anne Murray version
"You Needed Me" was first recorded by singer Anne Murray in 1978. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and revitalized her career after several years of declining popularity as it became her first Top 40 US single since her 1974 remake of The Beatles' "You Won't See Me". The song, included on her 1978 album Let's Keep It That Way, was also a top-five country single and won Song of the Year at the Academy of Country Music awards, and is her most successful single in the United Kingdom where it made the top 30. Murray is quoted in The Billboard Book of Number One Hits by Fred Bronson as saying she was not surprised by the song's success, as she knew from the start the song would be a hit because she broke down in tears the first time she tried to sing it.
Although the song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (and is her only song to top that chart), it never topped the two Billboard charts where Murray has had the most success -- Country and Adult Contemporary. However, it spent a then-record 36 weeks on the Adult Contemporary chart, a record for chart longevity that stood until 1995.
The song earned Murray the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 21st Grammy Awards, the first to be awarded to a Canadian artist.
Anne Murray re-recorded the song with Shania Twain for Murray's 2007 album Duets: Friends & Legends.
The song was featured in an ongoing storyline on the CBS soap Guiding Light in 1980–81, as a theme song for the characters Kelly Nelson and Morgan Richards. In 2013, the song was performed by Seth MacFarlane in character as Stewie Griffin on the Family Guy episode "Chris Cross", in which Anne Murray herself guest-starred.
Boyzone version
"You Needed Me" was covered by Irish boy band Boyzone in 1999. It was released as the second single from their album By Request. Their single reached number 1 on the UK Singles Chart, beating the debut solo single of Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, outselling her by just 700 copies. The song received a silver disc for shipping 200,000 copies in the UK.
Track listings and format
- "You Needed Me"
- "Words Can't Describe"
- "Megamix: Love to Infinity"
- "You Needed Me"
- "You Needed Me" (Jewels & Stone Remix)
- "Too Late Tonight"
- "You Needed Me" (video)
Other versions
American country singer Lynn Anderson recorded her version of "You Needed Me" for the 1983 album Up Close. The song was subsequently included in various country and love song compilation albums that include her.