Bruce Channel – Hey! Baby

Feel in love with this song the first time I heard the harmonica part. It was a big influence on John Lennon and the Beatles. The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100 and #2 in the UK.  Delbert McClinton played harmonica on this record.

Here is a bit of trivia for ya… This was the first Hot 100 #1 with an exclamation point in its title.

From Songfacts.

Channel wrote this around 1959 with his friend Margaret Cobb. He had already been performing the tune for a couple of years before recording it amidst a series of demos for Fort Worth producer Major Bill Smith. First released locally on Smith’s label, it was picked up for national distribution by Smash.

Delbert McClinton played the harmonica part. At one Channel’s shows, he was supported by a then-unknown Liverpool group, the Beatles. John Lennon was so impressed with the harmonica intro that he asked McClinton how to play it. A year later a similar harmonica passage showed up on The Beatles “Love Me Do.”

In 2001, 20-year-old Austrian producer/DJ Gerry Friedle, who performed under the name of DJ Otzi, recorded a Euro Dance version of this with added “ooh aahs.” When he was a DJ he was always doing “ooh aahs” and he found the audience loved it. His version reached #1 in the UK, rising from #45 to replace Bob The Builder at the top, the highest ever leap to #1 in the UK. Otzi’s initial goal in life was to be a farmer; a plan he was forced to abandon due to a fear of cows. He turned to music during chemotherapy for testicular cancer. He had 2 more UK top 10 hits, following up with his version of Manfred Mann’s “Do Wah Diddy”(#9) and the following year a #10 hit with a remixed version of this to coincide with the 2002 soccer World Cup. By this time “Hey Baby” had become a song football supporters sang at matches.

Hey! Baby

Hey, hey hey baby 
I want to know if you’ll be my girl 
Hey, hey hey baby 
I want to know if you’ll be my girl 

When I saw you walking down the street 
I said that’s a kind of girl I’d like to meet 
She’s so pretty, Lord she’s fine 
I’m gonna make her mine all mine 

Hey, hey hey baby 
I want to know if you’ll be my girl 

When you turned and walked away 
That’s when I want to say 
C’mon baby, give me a whirl 
I want to know if you’ll be my girl 

Hey, hey hey baby 
I want to know if you’ll be my girl 

When you turned and walked away 
That’s when I want to say 
C’mon baby, give me a whirl 
I want to know if you’ll be my girl 

Hey, hey hey baby 
I want to know if you’ll be my girl 
Hey, hey hey hey hey, baby c’mon, baby now