Irrelevant thoughts of an irrelevant person

Need and want

I always here people talking about how need is more important than want, but I never completely agreed with that idea.
You cannot need anything until you want something.
You don't need to live, but you want to live. If you want to live you need to have food, clothes, shelter, and water.
If you need something you have to want something first.
So if you think about it that way, is need really more important than want?
Possibly, because if we want something we need to take certain steps to get what we want.
But in the end we still have to want something before we need anything.
So which do you think is most important, or are they both equally necessary?