To Be a Lover in early 1969. This version has since been sampled by Ludacris on his song "Growing Pains" from "Word of Mouf", by Jaheim on "Put That Woman First" from "Still Ghetto" and by Dilated Peoples on the song "Worst Comes to Worst". In 1977, the song was covered as a more uptempo reggae number by the Jamaican singer George Faith under the amended title of "To Be a Lover (Have Mercy)" for his Lee "Scratch" Perry-produced album also called "To Be a Lover". In 1986, the track was again reworked and became the second high-profile cover Billy Idol released as a
I Need a Lover Thomas Erlewine described "I Need a Lover" as Mellencamp's "first good song." Mellencamp has stated that "I Need a Lover" was inspired by The Rolling Stones' 1972 song "Happy." Hamilton Leithauser (of indie rock band The Walkmen) performed a version of the song in August 2014 for "The A.V. Club" A.V. Undercover series. The song was covered and released as the debut single in 1980 by American rock singer Pat Benatar for her debut studio album, "In the Heat of the Night" (1979). The song became an album-oriented rock radio hit for the singer. I Need a Lover "I Need