"Little Darling (I Need You)" is a 1966 single written and produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland and recorded and released by Marvin Gaye on the Tamla label.

This song was released after the modest success of the Miracles-produced single "Take This Heart of Mine" in hopes that Gaye's work with the hit-making trio Holland-Dozier-Holland would bring him back to the pop top ten.

Similarly conceived with the same musical background as their previous collaboration, "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)", the song has the singer declaring to his woman to stay beside him promising her that he'll be "(her) number-one fool".

While it reached the top forty of the Billboard Top R&B Singles chart peaking at number sixteen, it did not perform as well as "Take This Heart of Mine" on the pop charts, peaking at number 47.

The song was subsequently covered by The Doobie Brothers for their 1977 release Livin' on the Fault Line.

...
Wikipedia