I Need A Man
{{song-2|
|song name = I Need A Man
|single image = 
from the album
Sign O’ The Times Super Deluxe Edition
|first released = 17 September 2020 - Sign O’ The Times Super Deluxe Edition pre-release download
|album(s) = Sign O’ The Times Super Deluxe Edition
|performer = Prince; The Hookers; Bonnie Raitt
|writer(s) = Prince
|producer(s) = Prince
|previous song = I Met A Virgin Queen
|next song = 
No
|introduction = I Need A Man is a track released posthumously as the sixth track of Vault Tracks part 3, one of the discs with previously unreleased tracks included with the Sign O’ The Times Super Deluxe Edition. A week earlier, it was released as the album’s sixth and final pre-release download.
While the released version is from (with overdubs in 1987), the song was originally recorded in August 1981 at Prince’s Kiowa Trail Home Studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota (during the same set of sessions that produced Make-Up, Wet Dream and Drive Me Wild). The track contained lead vocals by Jamie Shoop, and was intended for an album by The Hookers, but was abandoned when The Hookers developed into Vanity 6.
The track was then re-recorded on 22 January 1987 at Prince’s Galpin Blvd Home Studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota, when it was revamped to be offered to American blues singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt. The track was worked on further in 1987 with horn overdubs by Eric Leeds and Atlanta Bliss recorded on 22 January 1987 at Prince’s Galpin Blvd Home Studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota. Prince approached her about recording some songs together and signing to his Paisley Park Records label in December 1986 after seeing her perform at The Beverly Theater, Los Angeles, CA, USA. He offered four songs to work on (I Need A Man, Jealous Girl, Promise To Be True and There’s Something I Like About Being Your Fool). Raitt recorded her vocals on only two of them (I Need A Man and There’s Something I Like About Being Your Fool).
No further work was done as Prince was busy preparing for his next tour (Sign O’ The Times Tour). Bonnie Raitt commented on the tracks by saying "I appreciated the enthusiasm, but they were not in my key. The topics were not things I was comfortable singing.". Raitt also wanted to cut tie with Warner Bros. after the failure of her 1986 album Nine Lives. None of the songs offered by Prince ended up on her 1989 acclaimed album Nick Of Time, released on Capitol Records which included I Can’t Make U Love Me later covered by Prince.
Prince worked on the track again on 31 May 1988, at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota. the resulting version after those overdubs remains unreleased
|recording info =
|- align="left"
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|August 1981
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|Kiowa Trail Home Studio,
Chanhassen, MN, USA
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|Basic tracking ( The Hookers version)
|- align="left"
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|22 January 1987
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|Galpin Blvd Home Studio,
Chanhassen, MN, USA
- Eddie Miller - engineer
|style="border-top:1px dotted #ccc;"|{{{additional info}}}
