Origins: Need Your Love So Bad

Subject: Origins: Need Your Love So Bad
From: Thompson
Date: 26 Jul 20 - 04:17 PM

Listening sadly to Peter Green and his Fleetwood Mac playing that great smoocher Need Your Love So Bad tonight, I went looking for the song's writer, and found it was Mertis John Jr. But apart from being the brother of Little Willie John, I can't find any biography of him.
Anyone?

Subject: RE: Origins: Need Your Love So Bad
From: keberoxu
Date: 26 Jul 20 - 08:48 PM

My impression about performances recorded of this song,
is that Little Willie John
was the first to record it.
Then comes B. B. King,
whose arrangement was influential
to Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, it sounds like.

What else?
Mertis John Sr. was the father
of Willie John and Mertis John Jr. who were two out of ten children.
Four of the older children sang together as The Gospel Four --
not clear if Mertis Jr. was one of those four.

Another quote I scared up:
"... his older brother, Mertis John Jr., who
penned material while serving in Korea as a medic."

There is supposed to be a Little Willie John biography
authored by Susan Whitall
which goes into some detail about
the two brothers and their families.

Subject: RE: Origins: Need Your Love So Bad
From: Thompson
Date: 27 Jul 20 - 05:38 AM

Thanks, interesting. The actual writer of the song was Mertis John Jr. It's an odd song; it is written as if from the point of view of someone who's blind.

Subject: RE: Origins: Need Your Love So Bad
From: GUEST,pseudonymous
Date: 27 Jul 20 - 05:21 PM

I had not thought about the persona being blind, though being non-literate had been a thought. It's the line about writing it down so that somebody can read it to him that does it. For me otherwise, it's about a darkness of the soul, a state of near madness 'stop driving me mad', and the need for some other to provide support, almost religious connotations and certainly a moral element 'tell me when I'm lying.' Poignantly relevant to Peter Green's biography (his version is the one I know) in places. 'Odd' is one way of putting it, 'intriguing' another perhaps.

Subject: RE: Origins: Need Your Love So Bad
From: Thompson
Date: 29 Jul 20 - 11:45 AM

Need someone's hand to lead me through the night
I need someone's arms to hold and squeeze me tight
Now, when the night begins, whoa, I'm at an end
Because I need your love so bad

I need some lips to feel next to mine
Need someone to stand up, to stand up and tell me when I'm lyin'
And when the lights are low, and it's time to go
That's when I need your love so bad

So why don't you give it up, baby and bring it home to me
Or write it on a piece of paper, woman, so it can be read to me
Tell me that you love me, and stop drivin' me mad
Whoa, because I, I need your love so bad

Need a soft voice, just to talk to me at night
Don't want you to worry, baby
I know we can make everything all right
Listen to my plea, baby, come on bring it to me
'Cause I need, your love so bad
Baby, I need, I need, woman, I need your love so bad.

I hadn't noticed that there's a reference to lights being low - other than that, all the references are to touch, which is unusual.

Subject: RE: Origins: Need Your Love So Bad
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 29 Jul 20 - 12:01 PM

Myself, I need to go back and listen, again, to
Little Willie John's studio recording.
I believe the lyrics have
some variations to them --

I recall "talk to me at night"
rhyming with
"don't wanna fuss and fight" instead.