Many of the artists who released yacht rock classics were singer/songwriters, musical poets who poured their hearts out into their soft-rocking material. For much of his career, Leo Sayer was exactly that, and he was successful in that vein.
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But the song that entrenched him in the yacht rock pantheon was one that was written and first performed by others. Nonetheless, Sayer located the loneliness at the heart of “When I Need You” to help the song reach its full potential.
An Artist With Flair
Leo Sayer, born in the county of Sussex in England, developed an interesting mix of talents as he made his way to fame. On the one hand, he proved adept as a writer. With his songwriting partner David Courtney, Sayer wrote the song “Giving It All Away,” which Roger Daltrey of The Who turned into a UK solo hit in 1973.
But Sayer differed from many singer/songwriters in that he didn’t back away from showmanship. This was most evident on his British breakthrough single “The Show Must Go On.” Sayer would perform the old-timey track on television in clown makeup to amplify its meaning.
The artist tasted his first U.S. success in 1974 with the song “Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance),” which went to the American Top 10. Still, there was a feeling Sayer’s talents weren’t translating outside his native country as well as they might have. That led to an album specifically tailored to the U.S. audience, one which would receive a big boost from “When I Need You.”
“Need” for Success
Richard Perry, the producer who had done wonders for artists as diverse as Harry Nilsson, Ringo Starr, and Carly Simon, was tapped to helm Sayer’s 1976 album Endless Flight. He gave Sayer the bad news that little of the material he had been writing would make the record.
Sayer did have a hand in writing the disco-tinged, falsetto-laden “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing,” which hit the U.S. top spot as the first single from the record. But most of the rest of the songs were by outside writers, including “When I Need You,” which was co-written by Albert Hammond, who had originally recorded the song, and Carole Bayer Sager.
To Sayer’s credit, he found something of himself in the lyrics, in that he was missing his own wife while recording Endless Flight in California. With top LA studio pros adding the musical magic and Sayer giving his soulful best on lead vocal, “When I Need You” made it back-to-back No. 1’s for the artist.
Behind the Lyrics of “When I Need You”
Carole Bayer Sager wrote the lyrics to “When I Need You,” which tells the story of a lonely guy who indulges in some magical thinking to take his mind off his loneliness: When I need you / I just close my eyes and I’m with you. He later implores his significant other to do the same so she won’t feel as sad.
It’s not a perfect solution, as he admits: A telephone can’t take the place of your smile. A life of travel causes its problems: It’s not easy when the road is your driver / Honey, that’s a heavy load that we bear. Still, when he focuses on the positives, it’s overwhelming: I never knew there was so much / Keeping me warm night and day.
Leo Sayer’s showman side crept up again when he performed this song on an episode of The Muppet Show. “When I Need You” showed that, in addition to being a top-notch writer and charismatic performer, his interpretive skills were top-notch as well.
Photo by Jorgen Angel/Redferns
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