I Want You, I Need You, I Love You

During April 1956, Variety reported that Presley's sixth RCA Victor single, "Heartbreak Hotel", had sold one million copies. RCA Victor producer Steve Sholes wanted a strong single for the next release, aware that there was not much good material available. It had cost $1,000 ($12,000 in 2025) to fly Presley and his band in by a private flight, and Sholes let Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, know that he was unsatisfied with the work and required material urgently for a second album. He knew that with Presley's busy touring schedule it could be months before RCA Victor got him back into a studio. Performing what was a very rare and generally unsuccessful procedure for the 1950s, Sholes took parts of two takes he liked (takes 14 and 17), cut and spliced them together to create a take worthy of release. His cuts were so seamless, nobody at RCA Victor could tell it was not from a single take. ==Reception==

"I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" was backed with "My Baby Left Me" and was released on May 4, 1956. Pre-orders of over 300,000 were the biggest ever in the history of the company. At the time of its release, Presley had three songs in the Top 20: "Heartbreak Hotel/I Was the One", "My Baby Left Me", and "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You". On June 5, 1956, Presley performed the song on The Milton Berle Show, as well as an early version of "Hound Dog" that resulted in both overwhelmingly favorable audience reaction and outrage. Despite the heated public controversy, the single was generally well-received, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Top 100 chart, and scoring No. 1 on the country music chart. The song earned a second gold record for Presley, with sales in excess of 1.3 million. ==Cover versions==

Robby Krieger performed an instrumental version of the song on his 1989 solo album, No Habla. ==In popular culture==

John Lennon mentioned the song in the final interview he recorded on December 8, 1980, noting, "If I hear Elvis, I heard him singing "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" the other day, I mean I was just in heaven. I mean, of course I was going back to my youth and remembering the dates, and what was going on when I heard that music.” The song “Two Out of Three Ain't Bad” (1977) was inspired by the song's title, with the chorus lamenting, "I want you, I need you, but there ain't no way I'm ever gonna love you". ==References==