You're All I Need To Get By

Album

You're All I Need

Label

Tamla

Genre

Soul

Composer(s)

Nickolas Ashford;Valerie Simpson

Entered Chart

Jul 27, 1968

Peak Date

Sep 14, 1968

Released

July 9, 1968

Recorded

March 1968, Hitsville USA, Detroit, Michigan

Catalog #

Tamla 54169

B-Side

Two Can Have A Party

"You're All I Need to Get By" was one of the last songs Marvin Gaye recorded with his ailing duet partner Tammi Terrell, (who would die of a brain tumor in 1970). Like most of their collaborations, it was written by the husband-and-wife songwriting team of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, but it stood out from the other R&B-flavored tracks that defined the Motown sound. This number was heavily infused with a gospel style and incorporated vocals from a New York church choir. As a team, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell specialized in heartfelt duets like this one about finding strength as a couple. In real life, they were just good friends: Terrell was romantically involved with David Ruffin of The Temptations. The song's writers, Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, had a gospel background (they met in church) they brought to this song. "So much soul comes out of the Baptist church," she said in the Billboard Book Of #1 R&B Hits. "It's so embedded in you. You could go out any minute and turn the sweetest ballad into a gospel song if you felt real good about it." Ashford and Simpson, who also recorded as a duo, sang backup on the track, and Simpson played piano. This song inspired an updated version in 1995 by Method Man and Mary J. Blige called "I'll Be There For You/You're All I Need to Get By." "You're All I Need to Get By" plays a big role in the 2021 movie CODA, which won the Oscar for Best Picture. In the film, a girl whose parents and brother are deaf joins the school choir and is asked to sing the song as a duet with a guy she's crushing on. After singing it at a school concert, she sings it just for her dad, who puts his hand on her neck to feel the vibrations. When he asks her what the song is about, she replies: "It's about what it is to need another person," a theme throughout the film.

You're all I need to get by, oh, oh
You're all I need to get by, oh, oh
Like sweet morning dew, I took one look at you (you're all I need to get by)
And it was plain to see, you were my destiny (you're all I need to get by)
With my arms open wide (you're all I need to get by)
I threw away my pride
I'll sacrifice for you
Dedicate my life for you, oh, oh

I will go where you lead, c'mon, baby, always there in time of need, oh, oh
And when I lose my will you'll be there to push me up the hill
There's no, no looking back for us
We got love sure 'nough, that's enough
You're all, You're all I need to get by

(You're all I need to get by), oh, oh, yeah, yeah, tammi, listen
Like an eagle protects his nest, for you I'll do my best (you're all I need to get by)
Stand by you like a tree, dare anybody to try and move me (you're all I need to get by)
Darling, in you I found (you're all I need to get by)
Strength where I was torn down (you're all I need to get by)
Don't know what's in store but together we can open any door
Oh, baby, just to do what's good for you and inspire you a little higher
Oh, I know you can make a man out of a soul that didn't have a goal
'Cause we, we got the right foundation and with love and determination
You're all I want to strive for and do a little more
You're all, all the joys under the sun wrapped up into one, you're
All, you're all I need
You're all I need
You're all I need, oh, to get by (you're all I need to get by)
Ooh, baby, oh, baby (you're all I need to get by)
Honey, honey, honey, honey, honey, yeah (you're all I need to get by)
I need you darlin' (you're all I need to get by)
Oh, I need you, all your love, you're all I need, oh (you're all I need to get by)
Oh, baby, you're all I need, I need your love, you're all I want
Oh, oh, all your love, now, yeah