“Love's in Need of Love Today” is a soulful R&B ballad written by Stevie Wonder, who composed the music and the lyrics. It is the opening track of Songs in the Key of Life, his 1976 album, released on 28 September 1976 by Tamla/Motown. Wonder conceived the title phrase first and began writing in late 1974 in a New York hotel, while his partner Yolanda Simmons was pregnant with their daughter Aisha. In 1975, at Crystal Sound studio in Hollywood, he developed the lyrics and chords, moved the key to E-flat and added a choral introduction. Wonder sang the song and played most of the instruments himself, so the recording is largely his own performance. The song's history shows how a single phrase grew into a full ballad, from the first idea to the finished recording made the following year.
