Johnny Cougar “I Need a Lover” released

I Need a Lover Johnny Cougar

Writer(s): John Mellencamp (see lyrics here) Released: March 6, 1978 (album cut on A Biography) First Charted: September 15, 1979 Peak: 28 US, 32 CB, 35 HR, 5 CL, 5 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 3.9 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: John Mellencamp was born in Seymour, Indiana in 1951. He released his first album, Chestnut Street Incident, in 1976. At the insistence of his manager, he reluctantly took on the stage name “Johnny Cougar.” It didn’t help. The album sold only 12,000 copies. His next album, 1977’s The Kid Inside, didn’t even get released until six years later after he’d made it big. As such, things didn’t look good for his third album, 1978’s A Biography. Sure enough, it wasn’t even released in the United States. Mellencamp worried that he was already washed up. SF However, in a strange twist of fate for the man who became known as America’s premiere heartland rocker, the song “I Need a Lover” became a hit in Australia, going all the way to #5. The song got another boost when Pat Benatar covered it and released it as her debut single in August 1979. The song gained enough attention that it was included on his next album, 1979’s John Cougar. This time, it reached the charts in the United States, giving Mellencamp his first taste of Billboard Hot 100 chart success, going all the way to #28. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of All Music Guide called it “his first good song,” AMG saying that it “indicated that Mellencamp had talent.”AMG The song’s narrator “seems to be going crazy sitting at home all alone, watching TV to see what's happening out in the world. Seems he's losing his mind with or without a lover.” SF Mellencamp said that the song was about a friend who was going to Concordia College at the time. “He was pretty sad. He was livin’ in his bedroom. I told him, ‘You got to get the hell out of the house!’ He’d say, ‘Man, if I only had a girl she’d make me forget my problems.’” WK Mellencamp also said the song was inspired by the Rolling Stones’ “Happy.” WK Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for John Mellencamp AMG All Music Guide review of A Biography SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 6/15/2023.