Just What I Needed

Cars leader Ric Ocasek wrote this song in a basement at a commune in Newton, Massachusetts, where he lived at the time. At least that's the story he told - he also said that all written words are fiction. "Just What I Needed" is a classic example of his skewed sense of humor and sly lyrical touch. It seems very sweet when he's telling the girl she's just what he needed and letting her know he's happy to have her wasting his time. But then he gets to the chorus: I guess, you're just what I needed I needed someone to feed I guess, you're just what I needed I needed someone to bleed Someone to feed? Someone to bleed? Ocasek kept things interesting by keeping the characters in his songs a little unhinged at times.

This established The Cars as one of New Wave's leading hitmakers and helped get them a deal with Elektra Records. They recorded a 2-track demo of the song that their manager brought to two popular Boston radio stations: WBCN and WCOZ. This ploy rarely works, but the group had built a following in the area and the song was very radio-friendly. Both stations played it and listeners loved it; on WBCN, it became the most-requested song by a local band in the history of the station. With a song on the radio in a major market, The Cars were a surefire success and had their pick of record labels. They went with Elektra, who had them re-record the song and released it as their first single.

Ric Ocasek was The Cars' frontman, but he had bass player Ben Orr sing lead on this one. Unlike some singers, Ocasek had no problem handing off a hit to a different bandmember to sing: Orr, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2000, also got the lead on "Drive."