The melody of the "hook" line, or chorus of "When I Need You" is identical to the part of the Leonard Cohen song "Famous Blue Raincoat", where the lyrics are as follows: "Jane came by with a lock of your hair, she said that you gave it to her that night, that you planned to go clear".

Cohen sings the chorus of Sayer's number one hit from 1977, then segues into 'And Jane came by with a lock of your hair', a lyric from 'Famous Blue Raincoat'.

'Somebody sued them on my behalf ... and they did settle', even though, he laughs, 'they hired a musicologist, who said, that particular motif was in the public domain and, in fact, could be traced back as far as Schubert.

This version was produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and was released as the second single from the album, and reached number 55 in Canada.

[34] Entertainment Weekly editor David Browne called the cover, "an obligatory remake (a precisely enunciated version of Leo Sayer's When I Need You)".

Lani Hall recorded a Spanish version of the song, retitled "Si me amaras (If you Loved Me)," for her 1985 album Es Fácil Amar, produced by Albert Hammond.