If I Needed You

"If I Needed You"
Single by Emmylou Harris and Don Williams
from the album Cimarron
B-side	"Ashes by Now"
Released	September 1981
Genre	Country
Length	3:37
Label	Warner Bros. Nashville
Songwriter(s)	Townes Van Zandt
Producer(s)	Garth Fundis, Don Williams, Brian Ahern
Emmylou Harris singles chronology
"I Don't Have to Crawl" (1981) "If I Needed You" (1981) "Tennessee Rose" (1981)
Don Williams singles chronology
"Miracles" (1981) "If I Needed You" (1981) "Lord, I Hope This Day Is Good" (1981)

"If I Needed You" is a song written by Townes Van Zandt and performed on his 1972 album The Late Great Townes Van Zandt. It was covered 9 years later by American country music artists Emmylou Harris and Don Williams as a duet, and was released in September 1981 as the first single from Harris' album Cimarron. The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart^[1] and #1 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.^[2] According to Townes's business partner and producer Kevin Eggers, the song was written about his wife Anne Mittendorf Eggers. ^{[citation needed]}

The song is very similar musically to David Allan Coe's later song "Would You Lay with Me (In a Field of Stone)." Van Zandt's former manager John Lomax III recounts that when Coe heard Van Zandt play the song, he asked Van Zandt if he could "do something with it." However, Van Zandt is not credited on the later song.^[3]

Charts

Chart (1981)	Peak position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[4]	3
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	1

Covers

Townes Van Zandt's "If I Needed You" was not only covered by Emmylou Harris and Don Williams, but also by Andrew Bird on Hands of Glory, Guy Clark on Songs and Stories, Lyle Lovett on Step Inside This House, and others. The song was also recorded by Doc Watson for his record Then and Now. On his record Live at the Old Quarter, Townes introduces the song "If I Needed You" by saying, "This was recorded by Doc Watson, and it really blew my mind, you know…" The song is also covered in the Belgian film The Broken Circle Breakdown, where the Broken Circle Breakdown Bluegrass Band, including actors Johan Heldenbergh and Veerle Baetens sing it live. It also appears on the original soundtrack of the film. In 1997, Dead Ringer Band covered the song on their album, Living in the Circle, and in 2000 Seán Keane covered it on his album The Man That I Am. In 2012, Mumford & Sons released a version of the song. Kasey Chambers covered the song on her 2011 album Storybook. In 2018, the Spanish singer-songwriter Javier Álvarez released a version of the song in his tenth album, properly called "10".

An acoustic version of the song, performed by Terry O'Quinn and Michael Dorman, appears in the pilot episode of the television show Patriot, which aired on November 5, 2015.

A version in Swedish, Om jag behövde dig appears on the 2016 album Vid Grinden Archived 2016-08-18 at the Wayback Machine by Georga Archived 2016-08-18 at the Wayback Machine and is performed as a duet with singer Frida Wiljansros.

Joey + Rory recorded it on their album "Made to Last" in 2013. Adam Harvey and Beccy Cole covered the song on their album, The Great Country Songbook Volume 2 (2017). In 2017, Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires recorded a cover for a Don Williams tribute album. Gove Scrivenor recorded a version on his "Shine On" album in 1998

Jake Ewald of Slaughter Beach, Dog recorded an acoustic cover on the album "Live at the Cabin" in 2022.

References

1. Emmylou Harris Billboard Singles
2. "RPM Country Tracks". Archived from the original on 2012-10-20. Retrieved 2010-11-12.
3. Saviano, Tamara (October 31, 2016). Without Getting Killed or Caught: The Life and Music of Guy Clark (Hardcover ed.). Texas A&M University Press. p. 135. ISBN 978-1623494544.
4. "Emmylou Harris Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.