I’d Love You To Want Me – Lobo | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#2) Adult Contemporary (#1); 1972
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
Few outside of the Tampa, Florida area have heard of the Legends, who played there in the early 1960’s, even though several of its members went onto pop success and, in one case, legendary status.
Former-Legend Jim Stafford’s biggest hit was Spiders & Snakes (#3; 1974) while Gram Parsons achieved fame with the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers prior to his death.
Which brings us to Roland Kent Lavoie who agreed to the alias “Lobo” (“wolf” in Spanish) in order to distance himself from his first hit – Me And You And A Dog Named Boo – out of fear of being labeled a novelty act.
Lobo’s second hit, I’d Love You To Want Me, was earmarked for the Hollies until they demanded co-writing credit to change the line “blood goes to my feet.”
Lobo refused and recorded it himself using Mac Davis’ Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me and Nilsson’s Without You as inspiration for the guitar sound heard on I’d Love You To Want Me.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Phil Gernhard
Lyrics Written by:
- Roland Kent LaVoie (Lobo)
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).