I Need You
Written: 1973
Writers: David Jenneson, Alan Hovden,
Status: Recorded but unpublished
Genre and Style: Pop anthem.
Comments: Dave: This song was written during the height of the Watergate Scandal about President Richard Nixon when he was the most hated man in the universe. America’s youth were dying in Viet Nam. It has a grand yet heartbroken feel. For thirty years I have thought of it as nothing but a curiosity from the past. However, seeing it now it is clear it applies every bit as much to President George W. Bush and his wasting the lives of American servicemen in Iraq. Some things never change.
Comments: Al: I love this song… another one I would like to do again as parts of the demo drive me mad and other parts are so inspired.
I need you like a hole in the head
They freed you from the book of the dead
And with your cold old soul
You loved each line that you read
Gonna take heart to a good mortician
It was blown apart
And now my only mission
Is to sit and watch while the street musicians play
I need you like American Pie
Indeed you are the whiskey and rye
And them poor young lads
Toast to the mud in your eye
And I really don’t think they want to listen
To songs about love, songs about kissing
Because for them those things just picked up and died
Do you remember when you had
Children arm in arms all around you
Oh how your broke their hearts
When you raised your crown
They put Old Glory in the ground
I need you like a mouthful of lead
They feed you on the whitest white bread
And the cold cold North
Is where I’m laying my head
Gonna take heart to a good mortician
It was blown apart
And now my only mission
Is to sit and watch while the street musicians play
I followed your dream but you turned it around
I followed your dream but you turned it around
I don’t need you.