"I Need You Now" is a popular song written by Jimmie Crane and Al Jacobs.
The recorded version by Eddie Fisher reached number 1 on Billboard charts in 1954
The song was written for Joni James who recorded the song in April 1953 for M-G-M Records, and it was released on her best-selling album, Let There Be Love. Eddie Fisher subsequently recorded it accompanied by Hugo Winterhalter and his Orchestra at Webster Hall, New York City, on May 4, 1954. The song was released by RCA Victor Records backed with "Heaven Was Never Like This" (catalog number 20-5830) in August 1954. and by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalog number B 10755. Fisher's recording reached number 1 on Billboard as well as Cash Box charts in November 1954. It was ranked number 13 on Billboard's 1954's Top Popular Records according to records sales, and number 12 according to disk jockey plays.
Because M-G-M had already had three major songs scheduled in sequence for release ("My Love, My Love" and "I'll Never Stand in Your Way" and "I Need You Now," all done at the same recording session) when the Fisher version was released, it was not possible for M-G-M to market the James original at that point. Seven years later, Joni James recorded a new version of "I Need You Now", at Abbey Road Studios in London. It was released as a single in 1960. Jacobs and Crane later gave James another song "My Believing Heart," which became the follow-up to her million selling "You Are My Love."