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Length
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“Just What I Needed” was the first big hit from the Boston-based band. Sung by their bass player Benjamin Orr, the track established their heavy pop/new wave style.
The track was from their self-titled debut album, which established their “new wave” style. Though it’s a description for many of the successful late 70s bands, The Cars is considered one of the best from that cohort, as its two-year stint on the Billboard charts can attest.
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. Someone to feed? Someone to bleed? Ocasek kept things interesting by keeping the characters in his songs a little unhinged at times.
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