| You're All I Need to Get By | |
| Cover: | You're All I Need to Get By label.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell |
| Album: | You're All I Need |
| B-Side: | Two Can Have a Party |
| Released: | July 9, 1968 |
| Recorded: | March 1968, Hitsville USA, Detroit, Michigan |
| Genre: | Soul |
| Length: | 2:48 |
| Label: | Tamla T 54169 |
| Producer: | Harvey Fuqua Johnny Bristol |
| Prev Title: | Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing |
| Prev Year: | 1968 |
| Next Title: | Keep On Lovin' Me Honey |
| Next Year: | 1968 |
| You're All I Need to Get By | |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Tony Orlando & Dawn |
| Album: | To Be with You |
| B-Side: | I Know You Like a Book |
| Released: | 1975 |
| Recorded: | 1975 |
| Genre: | Easy listening |
| Label: | Elektra |
| Producer: | Hank Medress Dave Appell |
| Prev Title: | Mornin' Beautiful |
| Prev Year: | 1975 |
| Next Title: | Skybird |
| Next Year: | 1975 |
"You're All I Need to Get By" is a song recorded by the American R&B/soul duo Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell and released on Motown Records' Tamla label in 1968. It was the basis for the 1995 single "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By" from Method Man and Mary J. Blige.
Written by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, it became one of the few Motown recordings of the 1960s that was not recorded with the familiar "Motown sound". Instead, "You're All I Need to Get By" had a more soulful and gospel-oriented theme surrounding it, that was influenced by the writers, who also sing background vocals on the recording, sharing vocals in a church choir in New York City. Marvin and Tammi recorded the song at Hitsville. Ashford & Simpson later stated how the session was hard as Terrell was recovering from surgery on the malignant brain tumor that ultimately caused her death less than two years after they recorded the song.
During moments in the recording, Gaye can be heard encouraging Terrell to sing her verses, ad-libbing "come on Tammi" several times. A year later, Gaye was performing this song with Stax vocalist Carla Thomas at the Apollo Theater, when Terrell, who was seated in the front row in her wheelchair, began singing along, prompting Gaye to leave the stage and sing the song with Terrell, who was offered a microphone. It was Terrell's final performance before her death in March 1970. The song was played during Terrell's funeral while Gaye gave a brief, tearful eulogy.
The original recording by Gaye and Terrell peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and number-one on Billboard's Hot R&B/Soul Singles chart for five weeks,[1] becoming one of the longest-running number one R&B hits of 1968 and the most successful duet recording of Marvin Gaye's career. It reached #19 on the British singles charts in late 1968, staying there for 19 weeks.
Billboard described the single as a "driving rhythm follow-up" to the duo's previous hit single "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" which "will hit hard and fast."[2] Cash Box called it a "tremendous ballad with a hearty beat," saying that the "scintillating opening excites listener response with an impending explosion that develops slowly unfolding solid performance."[3]
| Chart (1968) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| Canada RPM Top Singles[4] | 10 | |
| UK R&B (Record Mirror)[5] | 1 | |
| US Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles (Billboard)[6] | 1 | |
| US Cash Box Top 100[7] | 7 |
| Chart (1968) | Rank | |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[8] | 91 | |
| U.S. Cash Box [9] | 82 |
| You're All I Need to Get By | |
| Cover: | You're_All_I_Need_to_Get_By_-_Johnny_Mathis_and_Deniece_Williams.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams |
| Album: | That's What Friends Are For |
| B-Side: | You're a Special Part of My Life |
| Released: | July 1978 |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Length: | 2:41 |
| Label: | Columbia |
| Composer: | Nick Ashford, Valerie Simpson |
| Producer: | Jack Gold |
| Prev Title: | Too Much, Too Little, Too Late |
| Prev Year: | 1978 |
| Next Title: | Love Won't Let Me Wait |
| Next Year: | 1984 |
Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams recorded "You're All I Need to Get By" for their 1978 duet album That's What Friends Are For. It was the follow-up to their U.S. #1 hit "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late".
Their version of "You're All I Need to Get By" peaked at #47 on the Billboard Hot 100, #10 on the Hot Soul Singles Chart, #16 on the Adult Contemporary chart,[10] and #45 on the UK Singles Chart. It did best on the Canadian Adult Contemporary chart, where it reached #5.[11]
Billboard wrote, "The version here brings fresh spirit to the Ashford & Simpson number within a nicely crafted Jack Gold production."[12]
| Chart (1978) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada RPM Top Singles[13] | 52 |
| Canada RPM Adult Contemporary[14] | 5 |
| UK Singles Chart (The Official Charts Company) | 45 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[15] | 47 |
| US Billboard Hot Soul Singles | 10 |
| US Billboard Adult Contemporary | 16 |
| US Cash Box Top 100 | 67 |
