Everybody Needs Somebody to Love
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" is a song written by Bert Berns, Solomon Burke and Jerry Wexler, and recorded by Solomon Burke under the production of Bert Berns at Atlantic Records in 1964. The song is ranked #429 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
In August 2008, Burke said in an interview with Mojo magazine that he hired musicians from Charlotte, North Carolina, to play in Long Island and he got them in to do the instrumental riff for the song. This riff was the money march he performed at church where the congregation marches down the aisle to the front to make offerings. Burke recalled: "Got the band cooking, get a bit of echo, we went through it, came back out, said to (record executive/producer) Jerry (Wexler), 'Whaddya think?' He said, 'Too fast. Doesn't have any meaning.' (Engineer) Tommy (Dowd) says, 'What can we lose? His band's here, let's just cut it.'"
Appearances in media
Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi (The Blues Brothers) perform the song in the film The Blues Brothers. The song was also included on their Definitive Collection album. The Jerry Garcia Band was known to perform it at live shows. The Rolling Stones recorded it for their 1965 album The Rolling Stones No. 2, and Solomon Burke made an appearance during their 2002-2003 tour, singing the song, which was included in the Stones' 2004 live album Live Licks. It was also performed by The 13th Floor Elevators in the 60's and featured on their album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators. Led Zeppelin was also known to cover it live as part of a medley in "Whole Lotta Love." the song also featured predominantly in 2point4 children, where Ben, Jenny and David performed the song at Jenny's school auditions.
Selected early cover versions
- The Rolling Stones (January 15, 1965)
- Wilson Pickett (1967)
- The Blues Brothers (1980)
