Released: August 26, 2011

Songwriter: Ed Sheeran

Producer: Charlie Hugall Jake Gosling

[Intro]
I don't want bruise your ears
Or hurt you again
But I got back-stabbed by a black cab
When I needed a friend

[Verse 1]
Now I'm in town, break it down, thinking of making a new sound
Playing a different show every night in front of a new crowd
That’s you now, ciao, seems that life is great now
See me lose focus as I sing to you loud
I can't, no, I won't hush
I'll say the words that make you blush
I'm gonna sing this now (Oh, oh)
See, I’m true, my songs are where my heart is
I'm like glue, I stick to other artists
I'm not you, now that would be disastrous
Let me sing and do my thing and move to greener pastures
See, I'm real, I do it all, it's all me
I'm not fake, don't ever call me lazy
I won't stay put, give me the chance to be free
Suffolk sadly seems to sort of suffocate me

[Chorus]
'Cause you need me, man, I don't need you
You need me, man, I don't need you
You need me, man, I don't need you at all
You need me, man, I don't need you
You need me, man, I don't need you
You need me, man, I don't need you
You need me, man, I don't need you at all
You need me

[Verse 2]
I sing and write my own tune and I write my own verse hell
Don't need another wordsmith to make my tunes sell
Call yourself a singer-writer, you're just bluffing
Name's on the credits and you didn't write nothing
I sing, fast, I know that all my shit's cool
I will blast and I didn't go to BRIT School
I came fast with the way I act, right
I can't last if I'm smoking on a crack pipe
And I won't be a product of my genre
My mind will always be stronger than my songs are
Never believe the bullshit that fake guys feed to ya
Always read the stories that you hear in Wikipedia
And musically I'm demonstrating
When I perform live, feels like I am meditating
Times at the enterprise when some fella filmed me
A young singer-writer like a Gabriella Cilmi

[Chorus]
'Cause you need me, man, I don’t need you
You need me, man, I don't need you
You need me, man, I don't need you at all
You need me, man, I don't need you
You need me, man, I don't need you
You need me, man, I don't need you
You need me, man, I don't need you at all
You need me

[Verse 3]
'Cause with the lyrics I'll be aiming it right
I won't stop until my name's in lights
With stadium heights, with Damien Rice
On red carpets, now I'm on Arabian Nights
Because I'm young I know my brothers gonna give me advice
Long nighter, short height and I gone hyper
Never be anything but a singer-songwriter, yeah
The game's over but now I'm on a new level
Watch how I step on the track without a loop pedal
People think that I'm bound to blow up
I've done around about a thousand shows, but
I haven't got a house, plus I live on a couch
So you believe the lyrics when I'm singing them out
Wow, from day one I've been prepared
With V05 wax for my ginger hair
So now I'm back to the sofa giving a dose of
What the future holds 'cause it's another day
Plus I'll keep my last name forever, keep this genre pretty basic
Gonna be breaking into other people's tunes when I chase it
And replace it with the elephant in the room with a facelift
Slipping into another rapper shoes using new laces
I'm selling CDs from my rucksack aiming for the papers
Selling CDs from my rucksack aiming for the majors
Nationwide tour with Just Jack, still had to get the bus back
Clean cut kid without a razor for the moustache
I hit back when the pen hurts me
I'm still a choir boy in a Fenchurch tee
I'm still the same as a year ago
But more people hear me though
According to the MySpace and YouTube videos
I'm always doing shows if I'm not I'm in the studio
Truly broke, never growing up, call me Rufio
Melody music maker, reading all the papers
They say I'm up and coming like I'm fucking in an elevator

[Chorus]
'Cause you need me, man, I don't need you
You need me, man, I don't need you
You need me, man, I don't need you at all
You need me, man, I don't need you
You need me, man, I don't need you
You need me, man, I don't need you
You need me, man, I don't need you at all
You need me, man, I don't need you

Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran is a singer/songwriter who was born in Halifax, England but was raised in Suffolk, England. He’s known for his energetic live shows, which involve him using a loop pedal and sometimes throwing some raps in for good measure.

Ed’s success story began with him playing music in older people’s homes. He first was picked up by a record producer when busking in the USA. He performed nearly a thousand gigs and street performances before getting the recognition he deserved. Unsigned projects such as Loose Change and Songs I Wrote with Amy relied on the production of long-term collaborator Jake Gosling and signaled the start of their hugely successful musical relationship. Soon he’d made countless industry friends.

Teaming up with some of the biggest names in UK grime – Wiley, Ghetts, Jme and more – he released the No. 5 Collaborations Project in January 2011, and it reached number 46 on the UK Singles Chart. One of the songs, “Little Lady” (feat. Mikill Pane), was a fan favourite, so Ed made a more radio-friendly solo version entitled “The A Team” and the rest is history. The song now has over a million sales in the UK and two million in the US.