Baby I Need Your Loving

{{Infobox song

| name = Baby I Need Your Loving

| image = Baby i need your loving by four tops Australian single side-A.png

| caption = Side A of the Australian single

| alt = Side-A label by Stateside Records

| type = single

| artist = Four Tops

| album = Four Tops

| B-side = Call on Me

| released = {{Start date|1964|07|10}}

| recorded = July 8, 1964

| studio = Hitsville U.S.A. (Studio A)

| genre = Pop{{cite web|first= Tom |last= Breihan |title= The Number Ones: The Four Tops' "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)"|website= Stereogum |date= July 30, 2018 |url= https://www.stereogum.com/2008810/the-number-ones-the-four-tops-i-cant-help-myself-sugar-pie-honey-bunch/columns/the-number-ones/|quote= ...when the songwriting/production team Holland-Dozier-Holland convinced them to move from jazz to pop and gave them “Baby I Need Your Loving"...|accessdate= June 12, 2023}}

| length = 2:45

| label = Motown

| writer = Holland–Dozier–Holland

| producer = Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier

| prev_title = Pennies from Heaven

| prev_year = 1962

| next_title = Without the One You Love (Life's Not Worth While)

| next_year = 1964

}}

"Baby I Need Your Loving" is a 1964 hit single recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label. Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland,{{Gilliland |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19831/m1/ |title=Show 50 - The Soul Reformation: Phase three, soul music at the summit. [Part 6] : UNT Digital Library |accessdate=2014-03-18}} the song was the group's first Motown single and their first pop Top 20 hit, making it to number 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number four in Canada in the fall of 1964. It was also their first million-selling hit single.

Cash Box described it as "an intriguing rock-a-cha-cha beat pleader...that [the Four Tops] carve out with solid sales authority."{{cite magazine |title=CashBox Record Reviews |date=July 25, 1964 |page=28 |access-date=2022-01-12 |url=https://worldradiohstory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1964/CB-1964-07-25.pdf |magazine=Cash Box}} Rolling Stone ranked the Four Tops' original version of the song at No. 400 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.{{cite magazine |title=Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-151127/the-four-tops-baby-i-need-your-loving-170636 |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=April 2010 |access-date=October 1, 2015}}

In Australia on the "Stateside" Label, "Baby I Need Your Loving" reached #50 on the KMR chartAustralian Chart Book 1940-1969 pp71 - David Kent and spent just 6 weeks in the chart which it entered on the 30th January 1964.

Personnel

Lead vocals by Levi Stubbs.
Background vocals by Renaldo "Obie" Benson, Lawrence Payton, Abdul "Duke" Fakir, and the Andantes: Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps.
Instrumentation by the Funk Brothers and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (strings).Liner notes. The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 4: 1964, Hip-O Select – B0005946-02, USA, 24 Feb 2006
Piano by Earl Van Dyke
Bass by James Jamerson
Guitar by Robert White
Drums by Benny Benjamin
String arrangements by Gil Askey
Written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland Jr.
Produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier.

Johnny Rivers' version

{{Infobox song

| name = Baby I Need Your Lovin'

| image = Baby i need your lovin by johnny rivers Canadian single side-A.png

| alt = side-A label by Imperial Records

| caption = Side A of the Canadian single

| type = single

| artist = Johnny Rivers

| album = Rewind

| B-side = Gettin' Ready for Tomorrow

| released = {{Start date|1967}}

| recorded =

| genre =

R&B
soul

| length = {{Duration|3:08 }}

| label = Imperial

| writer = Holland–Dozier–Holland

| producer = Lou Adler

| prev_title = Poor Side of Town

| prev_year = 1966

| next_title = The Tracks of My Tears

| next_year = 1967

}}

"Baby I Need Your Lovin'" was covered in 1967 by Johnny Rivers, reaching No. 3 on Billboard Hot 100, topping the original version in chart performance.Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - {{ISBN|0-89820-089-X}} The song reached #1 in Canada.{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.10046.pdf| title=RPM Top 100 Singles - March 18, 1967}}

As with Rivers' precedent single: the No. 1 hit "Poor Side of Town", his "Baby I Need Your Loving" was performed in an orchestral pop style, being arranged by Marty Paich and featuring the LA Phil musicians who had performed on the Mamas and the Papas inaugural Top Ten hits. The second single from the track's parent album: Rewind, was also an orchestral pop version of a Motown classic, being Rivers' version of "The Tracks of My Tears".

Personnel

Lead vocals by Johnny Rivers.
Background vocals by the Blossoms: Darlene Love, Fanita James, and Jean King.
Instrumentation by the Wrecking Crew and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Piano by Larry Knechtel
Guitar by Mike Deasy
Bass by Joe Osborn
Drums by Hal BlaineBlaine, Hal, with David Goggin, Hal Blaine and the Wrecking Crew, MixBooks, Emeryville, California, 1990
String arrangements by Marty Paich
Produced by Lou Adler
Written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland Jr.

Cover versions

The Fourmost released their version of this song, reaching No. 24 in the UK in November 1964.{{Cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/10824/fourmost/|title = FOURMOST | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company| website=Official Charts }}
O. C. Smith covered it and took it to No. 52 in 1970 (and No. 21 US AC).Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - {{ISBN|0-89820-089-X}}
Eric Carmen took "Baby I Need Your Loving" to No. 62 in 1979 (Change of Heart, 1978).Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - {{ISBN|0-89820-089-X}} His cover also reached the Top 10 on the Canadian Adult Contemporary chart (#8),{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.4519.pdf| title=RPM Top 50 AC - April 7, 1979}} and No. 50 in the Top 100.{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.0120a.pdf| title=RPM Top 100 Singles - March 3, 1979}}
Carl Carlton also covered the song in 1982 (The Bad C.C.), reaching No. 17 on the U.S. R&B charts,{{citation needed|date=April 2020}} No. 12 in Australia in February 1983,{{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=55}} and No. 27 in Canada.{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/028020/f2/nlc008388.6944.pdf| title=RPM Top 100 Singles - December 4, 1982}}
Lisa Stansfield on the soundtrack album of the 1999 movie Swing, which was also sung in the movie.
Michael McDonald recorded "Baby I Need Your Loving" for his 2004 album Motown Two.
Harana covered this song for the movie You're My Boss in 2015.