Need Your Love – Backstory
This happy love song is about growing closer to your one love.
This is one of my first “I’m proud of this” songs. At the time, I was writing too many words in my songs, they were too wordy and sometimes difficult to sing. I intentionally write the chorus with only the three words of the title.
There’s a detailed breakdown of the lyrics, melodies and chord progressions after the video…
Need Your Love – Lyrics
Introduction (half of chorus)
Verse 1
Baby, you feed my burning fire,
Single glance from you, sends my temperature higher.
Baby, I’m a moth to your flame,
Strange things happen to me when you say my name.
Chorus
Need your love…. Need your love, need your love!
Need your love…. Need your love, need your love!
Verse 2
Baby, I need your soft embrace,
Need to feel the warmth of your face.
Help to complete me, help me to see,
Who I really am, how strong I can be.
Chorus
Bridge
We both know what it takes, and how it feels.
I’m your Clark Kent, your Man of Steel!
You can be my Lois Lane, my Wonder Woman too…
Activate your super powers, you know what to do!
Chorus
Verse 3
Baby, show me all that you are,
Show me how to be, be my guiding star.
Uncloud my judgement, fill my head with light,
Clean out my ears and give me second sight.
Chorus
Need Your Love – Song Sketch
Verses: What you do to me
Verse 1: Attraction
Verse 2: Intimacy
Verse 3: You make me stronger… personal growth
Pre-Chorus: none
Chorus: “Need Your Love”
Bridge: I’m your Superman, you’re my Lois Lane & Wonder Woman
Need Your Love – Song Structure
Intro (Chorus) V C V C B C V C
If I’d included a pre-chorus in this song, I likely wouldn’t have used the third verse or the second to last chorus.
Need Your Love – Lyric Breakdown
Vocabulary
Alternate word choices for Love:
attraction, burning fire, moth to a flame, embrace, complete me, super hero, guiding star, uncloud my judgement, fill my head with light
Metaphors:
You feed my burning fire
I’m a moth to your flame
Help to complete me
I’m your Clark Kent, your Man of Steel
You can be my Lois Lane, my Wonder Woman
be my guiding star
fill my head with light
give me second sight
Sensation Imagery
Strong imagery puts your audience in the song with you… click here for a video lesson: Lyric Sensation Imagery, because people understand the world through their senses, use this to write stronger lyrics:
Verse 1
… feed my burning fire
… sends my temperature higher
… moth to your flame
Strange things happen to me when you say my name
Verse 2
Need to feel the warmth of your face…
…help me to see
…how strong I can be
Verse 3
…be my guiding star
Uncloud my judgement, fill my head with light
Clean out my ears and give me second sight… the mixing of the aural and visual imagery makes this more interesting
Hyperbole & Allusion:
Hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration, Allusion is referencing an existing work of art, historical event. In this bridge I use both in the super hero references:
I’m your Clark Kent, your Man of Steel
You can be my Lois Lane, my Wonder Woman too!
Activate your super powers…
Alliteration: Words starting with the same sound
Alliteration is obvious in the bridge:
Clark Kent
Lois Lane
Wonder Woman
Clichés
There are several clichés (phrases that are overused because they’re powerful) in Need Your Love. In most cases I add a spin to them to create something new and add a surprise for the listener. The most obvious ones include:
You feed my burning fire
I’m a moth to your flame
I need your soft embrace
Help to complete me
Be my guiding star
Need Your Love – Rhyme Schemes
Verse: AABB
Chorus: The same three words “Need Your Love” The first time it’s stretched to 4 bars, then shortened to twice in 4 bars.
Bridge: AABB
All of the rhymes are perfect. For example, in the first verse: fire/higher, flame/name.
If I wrote the song today, there’d be more variety in the rhymes with slant rhymes (near rhyme or imperfect rhymes). A perfect rhyme is generally more satisfying because it sounds complete or more “finished” but this also slows the forward motion. When each pair of lines ends with a perfect rhyme it sounds like a complete thought every two lines. Slant rhymes feel less complete, like a comma instead of a period in a sentence, so they push the lyrics forward to the next line or section.
Need Your Love – Melody
The Verse melody follows the roots of the chords (A and C) in the first three lines, with a different, falling melody in the fourth line to provide a contrast and add more excitement to the last line.
The Chorus melody also largely follows the roots of the chords moving from A to C to D and then back down to A at the end. I’ve written two vocal harmony parts but left them out of this video performance
The melody in the Bridge is similar to the verse, largely centered around the same note, but it’s D higher than the A of the verse.
Need Your Love – Chord Progressions
Chorus (twice)
A- |C/G |D |D G |
love……………….. Need your
C/G A- | C/G G | A- C/G | A- G ||
love………….. Need your love……….
Note: D major is used in the Chorus only (modal borrowing from A major), in the bridge D- keeps the song in A- (aeolian).
Verse 1
A-|C/G |A- |C/G G |
Ba-by, you feed my burning fire
A- |C/G |A- C/G |A- G |
Single glance from you, sends my temperature higher
A- |C/G |A- |C/G G |
Ba-by, I’m a moth to your flame
A- |C/G |A- C/G |A- G ||
Strange things happen to me when you say my name… Need your
Note: A- is embellished by the C chord (I play it as C/G letting the bottom string sound) this isn’t a functional progression except for the G chord acting as a substitute dominant chord for E major.
Bridge
D- |C/G D- |C/G D- |D- C/G |
We both know what it takes, and how it feels.
D- |C/G D- |C/G A- |A- C/G |
I’m your Clark Kent, your Man of Steel.
D- |C/G D- |C/G D- |D- C/G |
You can be my Lois Lane, my Wonder Woman too.
D- |C/G |A- |G |G |G |G ||
Activate your super powers, you know what to do! Need your
Note: I added the extra bars of G at the end because it sounded good and made the next Chorus sound stronger.
Need Your Love – Strengths
There are some strong lyrics in this song, including some interesting imagery and clichés with twists to keep them interesting. The verses further the story, with the first verse alluding to attraction, the second with physical intimacy and the third verse refers to personal growth through a relationship. I also enjoy the super hero allusions in the bridge. Most importantly, I wrote it for my wife, who likes the song!
Need Your Love – Weaknesses
There are several weaknesses in this song. I could go back and fix them but I’ve decided to accept that it’s where I was at the time I wrote it.
The melodies in the verse, chorus and bridge all follow the roots of the chords most of the time (exception is the fourth line of each verse). The rhyme pairs are all tight, perfect rhymes which slows the forward motion of the lyrics. I’d also use a different rhyme scheme instead of the same one in the verse and the bridge.
Need Your Love – Goals
Despite the weaknesses in this song, I still like it. I had many breakthroughs writing it. At the time I was a much weaker singer… I followed the roots of the chords when I wrote the melody because it was easier to sing. I learned to sing a harmony part by writing vocal harmonies in the chorus. At the time it was a challenge to keep in tune because I kept pulling towards other harmony notes.
Every song captures a moment in time… it’s a snapshot of you as a person and a songwriter. This song reminds me of where I was (especially as a beginning songwriter) when I wrote it. Despite the weaknesses I’ve identified, I still like this song and playing this song.
