I Want You, I Need You, I Love You

"I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" is a popular song written by Maurice Mysels and Ira Kosloff, and most famously performed by Elvis Presley.

In April 1956, RCA Victor producer Steve Sholes was looking for a strong single to follow up Elvis Presley's colossal hit "Heartbreak Hotel". Due to Elvis's busy touring schedule, Sholes needed to get him into the studio as soon as possible. Elvis and his band chartered a small prop plane to Nashville for one day of recording between shows.

En route from Amarillo, the plane developed engine trouble and fell through the sky several times. Upon arrival in Nashville on April 14, Elvis and the band were shaken up. Elvis arrived at RCA Studios with no ideas for the recording session and therefore had no choice but to take Sholes' suggestions, one of which was "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You".

Elvis wasn't used to working during the day. Coupled with his traumatic experience during his overnight flight, the recording session was disastrous. Take after take was ruined for one reason or another. The band was stiff. Elvis, usually a very quick study with a song, couldn't get the lyrics right. After 17 takes, Sholes decided Elvis and the band weren't up for recording and sent them home.

After the session, Sholes listened to the takes again. He wasn't happy with the results of what he considered to be an unprofessional and wasted session. He knew that with Elvis's busy touring schedule, it could be months before RCA Victor got him back into the studio. Sholes was determined to get something out of the session.

Performing what was a very rare (and generally unsuccessful) procedure for the 1950s, Sholes took parts of two takes he liked (takes 14 and 17) and cut and spliced them together to come up with a take worthy of release. His cuts were so seamless, nobody at RCA Victor could tell it wasn't from a single take.

"I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" was backed with "My Baby Left Me" and was released on May 12, 1956. Preorders of over 300,000 were the biggest ever in the history of the label. At the time of its release, Elvis had songs in the top 20: Heartbreak Hotel/I Was the One, "My Baby Left Me", and "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You".

On June 5, 1956 Elvis performed the song on the Milton Berle show. On this broadcast, which also included the famous Hound Dog performance, Berle presented a gold record to Elvis, his second, for this song, and it continued climbing the charts. On July 28, 1956 it knocked Gogi Grant's "The Wayward Wind" out of the top spot. "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" would stay at number one for only a single week. A small footnote in Elvis history considering his previous single "Heartbreak Hotel" reigned the charts for eight weeks and his next two singles, the mega-selling double-sided hit "Don't Be Cruel"/"Hound Dog" and "Love Me Tender", would rule the charts for a combined 16 weeks.

This song was the inspiration for the song made famous by Meat Loaf, "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad". The song remains popular as it is used for the themes of many organizations. While “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” has the lyrics: “I want you, I need you, But there ain't no way I'm ever gonna love you”, Australian band Savage Garden wrote the song “I Want You” which takes a step further away from the original song with the lyrics: “I want you, I don’t know if I need you, but [uh] I'd die to find out”

Elvis Presley singles chronology

• Last single = "Heartbreak Hotel" (1956)
• This single = "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" (1956)
• Next single = "Hound Dog" (1956)