Ronettes – Baby, I Love You

This was the follow-up to The Ronettes hugely successful debut single “Be My Baby.” Like “Be My Baby,” this was written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, and produced by Phil Spector using his famous “Wall Of Sound” technique. Be My Baby is hard to beat but Ronnie is fantastic in this one also.

The song was released not long after the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy, which put a damper on sales of upbeat singles. The Ronettes were never able to match the success of “Be My Baby.”

The song peaked at #24 in the Billboard 100 in 1964.

From Songfacts

Cher sang backup on The Ronettes version, and later recorded it on her own in a much slower, more dramatic style. Her version was produced by Phil Spector, and was released as the B-side of “A Woman’s Story,” which was Spector’s first production for Warner-Spector Records, his collaboration with Warner Brothers.

Twice, covers of this song peaked at #8 in the UK chart, bettering The Ronettes’ version. The first came in 1973 when the Welsh singer/guitarist Dave Edmunds recorded it as a homage to Phil Spector. Then in 1980, the American rock group the Ramones had their only UK Top 20 hit when their cover, which was produced by Spector, also reached #8. Edmunds’ version was the first single released on the Rockfield label, available through RCA.

Jeff Barry’s protégé Andy Kim took this song to #9 in the US with this 1969 version. Kim, who co-wrote the massive Archies hit “Sugar, Sugar” with Barry, grew up in Montreal and had never heard the song when he stumbled across it in Barry’s office and started playing it. “I see this sheet music and the chords,” Kim said in a Songfacts interview. “I pick up the guitar and I’m playing this song, and I’m singing this song that I had never heard of. Jeff walks in, and he says, ‘Hey man, I heard you through the door. I love what you’re playing, but that’s not how the song goes.'”

“We went in the studio and the idea was for us to make this record together, because it really sounded great in the office,” he continued. “To work with Jeff that way was the magic of it all. We went to A&R Studios – Studio A or 1, whatever they called it at the time. A huge room. Sat in the middle of this huge recording space with a microphone next to the guitar. Jeff went into the booth, and was kind of the metronome. He just clapped and hummed along the way – what he needed from me was to get one guitar down from beginning to end. I was able to do that five more times on separate tracks, and it would bounce back and forth. And if you do that, there are overtones and there is a sound without drums or anything. So that’s how the song was built – one instrument at a time. Drums were played by hand, percussion. Then Chuck Rainey came in to put bass on the song, and everything just glued together.”

Kim’s version was #1 for two weeks in his native Canada and earned him a Juno Award as his country’s Top Male Vocalist.

 

Baby, I Love You

Woa-oh, woa-oh oh oh
Have I ever told you
How good it feels to hold you?
It isn’t easy to explian
And though I’m really trying
I think I may start crying
My heart can’t wait another day
When you kiss me I’ve just got to say

(Baby, I love you) come on, baby
(Baby, I love you) ooh-ee baby
(Baby, I love only you)

Woa-oh, woa-oh oh oh

I can’t live without you
I love everything about you
I can’t help it if I feel this way
Oh, I’m so glad I found you
I want my arms around you
I love to hear you call my name
Oh, tell me that you feel the same

(Baby, I love you) come on, baby
(Baby, I love you) ooh-ee baby
(Baby, I love only you)

Woa-oh, woa-oh oh oh

Come on, baby (baby, I love you) come on, baby
(Baby, I love you) ooh-ee baby
(Baby, I love you) come on, baby
(Baby, I love you) ooh-ee baby
(Baby, I love you) oh, oh
(Baby, I love you) oh, oh
(Baby, I love you) oh, oh