Song of the Week #65 – “Be My Baby”
Written by admin on August 1, 2011 – 8:04 am -| The Ronettes’ timeless “Be My Baby” is Song of the Week on Classic Pop Icons.
“Be My Baby” was released on single in August 1963, backed with “Tedesco and Pitman” and would go on to become one of the most enduring pop songs of all time. |
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Before the success of “Be My Baby,” the Ronettes’ career had been unremarkable, comprising a number of singles and one album for Colpix Records, none of which charted. Spector had seen the girls performing at the Brooklyn Fox Theater and was impressed, so signed them to his Philles label when they were released by Colpix. The big attraction for Spector was the voice of lead singer, Ronnie Bennett, who he would soon fall for and later marry. Ronnie has said that it was their relationship that inspired Spector to write a number of early songs, including “Be My Baby.”
“Be My Baby” is a brilliant early example of Phil Spector’s so-called Wall of Sound production style, whereby multiple pianos, guitars, bass guitars, drums and other instruments were recorded simultaneously and subjected to echo effects. It was also the first song on which Spector used a full orchestra string section.
Spector recorded the backing track for “Be My Baby” first, before Bennett flew from New York to Los Angeles to add her vocal part. He reportedly called for 42 run-throughs of “Be My Baby” before even rolling tape, and was similarly demanding when it came to Ronnie’s vocal part, which took several days to record. In her 1990 autobiography, titled “Be My Baby,” Ronnie recalls rehearsing her vocals for the song:
| “I was so shy that I’d do all my vocal rehearsals in the studio’s ladies’ room, because I loved the sound I got in there. People talk about how great the echo chamber was at Gold Star, but they never heard the sound in that ladies’ room… That’s where all the little ‘whoa-ohs’ and ‘oh-oh-oh-ohs’ you hear on my records were born.” |
No discussion of “Be My Baby” would be complete without mentioning the excellent drum work of legendary session musician Hal Blaine. In a recent interview with MyTekLife magazine, Blaine said:
| “It was a great song, a great introduction that became my signature. My intro became a standard rock and roll lick. In all honesty, I think it was written differently and I might have missed when we were rolling. I guess it was a great miss! If you make a mistake and repeat it every four bars, it’s no longer a mistake. That mistake became the song’s hook, and you can hear the same work on Strangers in the Night, except at a slower pace.” |
Blaine’s drum work on this song has been emulated on many songs, including Billy Joel’s 1976 track “Say Goodbye To Hollywood”, which was covered by Ronnie Spector the following year.
The Ronettes – “Be My Baby”
In 1999, “Be My Baby” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Seven years later, the U.S. Library of Congress added the song to the National Recording Registry.
Authorship
“Be My Baby” was written by Phil Spector, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich.
Other classics penned by Barry and Greenwich include “Leader of the Pack, “Chapel of Love,” “River Deep, Mountain High,” “Then He Kissed Me” and “Da Doo Ron Ron.”
Recording date/location
“Be My Baby” was recorded at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, California, during July and August 1963.
Musicians
The Ronettes were Veronica (Ronnie) Bennett, her sister Estelle Bennett and their cousin Nedra Talley. However, only Ronnie appeared on the record. Backing vocals were provided by Darlene Love, Fanita James from the Blossoms, Bobby Sheen from Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans, Nino Tempo, Sonny Bono and a very young Cher. As Ronnie noted in her autobiography:
| “If you were standing around and could carry a tune, you were a background singer in Phil’s Wall of Sound. And everybody Phil knew seemed to show up the day we did backgrounds for ‘Be My Baby.'” |
“Be My Baby” was one of hundreds of classic recordings featuring the talents of the Los Angeles session musicians who became known as the Wrecking Crew. For a Phil Spector session, more musicians than usual were on board in order to create his famous Wall of Sound. Unfortunately, precise details on who featured on sessions are difficult to track down, but the following can be confirmed as featuring on “Be My Baby”:
- Billy Strange – guitar
- Tommy Tedesco – guitar
- Hal Blaine – drums
- Earl Palmer – drums.
Other possible candidates include:
- Carol Kaye, Ray Pohlman, Joe Osborne – bass
- Leon Russell, Al Delory, Larry Knechtel and Don Randi – keyboards
- Barney Kessel, Gene Estes, Michael Deasy, Dennis Budimir and Glen Campbell – guitar.
If you have information on which of these musicians featured on the record, leave a comment below.
Chart performance
“Be My Baby” peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 6, 1963 and remained in that spot for a further two weeks. It reached number one on the Cashbox Top 100. The song also reached number four on the UK singles chart.
This was the Ronettes’ first hit and their only record to break the Top Ten.
Covers
Cissy Houston – “Be My Baby”
Cissy Houston recorded a great, soulful cover of “Be My Baby” in 1970 for her album “Presenting Cissy Houston.” The arrangement could be best described as gospel-tinged with a touch of Bacharach, but it works.
Travis – “Be My Baby”
Travis featured “Be My Baby” on the B-side of their 1999 single “Driftwood.” The original has an optimistic feel, but the opposite is true here. Fran Healy’s vocal has a desperate, pleading quality, which is reinforced by the slow, dramatic arrangement. The famous drum part is retained, but doesn’t introduce the song.
There will be a new Song of the Week on August 8.
“Be My Baby” is available on two recent Sony Legacy compilations – “Be My Baby: The Very Best of the Ronettes” and “Wall of Sound: The Very Best of Phil Spector 1961-1966.”
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Be My Baby: The Very Best of the Ronettes (CD) |
Buy Now | Buy Now | Buy Now |
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Wall of Sound: The Very Best of Phil Spector 1961-1966 (CD) |
Buy Now | Buy Now | Buy Now |
Tags: be my baby, Cissy Houston, phil spector, the ronettes, the wall of sound, Travis
Posted in 60s pop, Song of the Week |
