I Need to Be in Love - Carpenters (1976)

It has been said that of all the songs Karen Carpenter recorded, "I Need to Be in Love" was her favorite. Listening to the track, it's not difficult to see why she admired the song so much. The beautiful melody was ideally suited to Karen's rich, expressive voice, and her wistful, introspective interpretation suggests that the lyrics may have had personal meaning for her as well. As with many of the duo's other songs, it was composed by Richard Carpenter and John Bettis, with singer-songwriter Albert Hammond collaborating.

"I Need to Be in Love" was the second single to be released from the Carpenters' eighth studio album, There's A Kind of Hush. Strangely, the single was not as successful on the Billboard Hot 100 chart as many of Karen and Richard's earlier hits had been, peaking at #25 in July 1976, although it did top the Adult Contemporary chart for one week. In 1995, the song was issued as a CD single in Japan, where it sold extremely well.

Listen to "I Need to Be in Love," accompanied by wonderful video footage of Karen and Richard, on YouTube: .
In addition to A Kind of Hush, the song can be found on numerous compilations of the Carpenters' hits, including The Ultimate Collection and Love Songs.