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. | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Townes Van Zandt | |||||||||
| Producer(s) | Garth Fundis, Don Williams | |||||||||
| Emmylou Harris singles chronology | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
"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]
Chart performance
| Chart (1981) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 3 |
| Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 1 |
| Preceded by "It's All I Can Do" by Anne Murray |
RPM Country Tracks number-one single December 12-December 19, 1981 |
Succeeded by "I Never Figured on This" by David Thompson |
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. Recently, Mumford & Sons released a version of the song. Kasey Chambers covered the song on her 2011 album Storybook.