As Long as He Needs Me

"As Long As He Needs Me"
Introduced in the 1960 musical Oliver!
Song
Published 1960
Writer Lionel Bart
Language English
Recorded by Many artists; see #Recorded versions
"As Long As He Needs Me"
Single by Shirley Bassey
B-side "So in Love"
Released 1960
Format vinyl record (7", 12")
Genre popular
Label Columbia Records
Writer(s) Lionel Bart
Shirley Bassey singles chronology
"The Birth of the Blues"
(1960)		 "As Long As He Needs Me"
(1960)		 "You'll Never Know"
(1961)

"As Long as He Needs Me" is a torch song sung by the character of Nancy in the musical film Oliver!, and originally introduced in the 1960 musical by Georgia Brown, who was the first actress to play Nancy. It is a love ballad expressing Nancy's love for her criminal boyfriend Bill Sikes, despite his mistreatment of her.

A reprise of this song towards the end of the show expresses Nancy's affection for young Oliver Twist, implying that she now feels that the child also needs her. This reprise was omitted from the film version.

The song has also been sung as "As Long as She Needs Me", when sung by a male singer. Its popularity grew by virtue of renditions by several popular singers, including Lionel Bart and Shirley Bassey who reached number two for 5 weeks on the United Kingdom charts with the song. Bassey's recording became one of the highest sellers of 1960 staying on the UK charts for 30 weeks, and is still heard regularly playing in the background on the TV show EastEnders. The song was performed by Nadia Turner and Melinda Doolittle on American Idol.

Recorded versions


The song has been performed by contestants Nadia Turner (2005) and Melinda Doolittle (2007) on American Idol. It was released as a studio recorded track by Doolittle, and sold as a downloadable song on the American Idol website.

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/sergio-franchi

External links

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