I NEED A LOVER
“I Need a Lover” is a rock song written and performed by John Mellencamp and first released under the stage name Johnny Cougar. It appeared on his 1978 album A Biography, which was not released in the United States. After becoming a hit in Australia, the song was later included in his 1979 follow-up album John Cougar and was released as a single, becoming his first Top 40 hit in the U.S. when it reached #28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1979. (More from Wikipedia)
John Mellencamp is just John Mellencamp these days; but in the beginning, it wasn’t like that at all. Mellencamp was infuriated to find out that the album, Chestnut Street Incident had been released under the name Johnny Cougar. He released another album in 1979 under this name, A Biography that included a Top 40 song, “I Need A Lover”; Pat Benatar also included “I Need a Lover” on her debut album, In the Heat of the Night. I still hear “I Need a Lover” on the radio from time to time, though if the DJ said “Johnny Cougar” or even “John Cougar”, almost no one would know who they were talking about anymore.
(July 2012)
