Sometimes I need a 1950s song, and the Drifters are a group that can give it. Some songs are timeless and could have been released at any time. Some are tied to an era. This one is, and in the best possible way. This is a transport song, a song that transports you to a certain era even if you weren’t there. Well, at least to your version of the era. These songs have cool chord structures, and many are both depressing and uplifting at the same time.
There Goes My Baby was a turning point for the Drifters and for rhythm and blues music itself. Released in 1959, the song sounded unlike anything else on the radio. The group had already enjoyed success, but this record took them in a completely new direction. It blended R&B, pop, and orchestral music in a way that was almost unheard of at the time. Today it is considered one of the most influential records of the late 1950s.
The song was written by Ben E. King along with Lover Patterson and George Treadwell. Producer Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wanted to create something different from the standard R&B records of the day. The session featured strings and a Latin-flavored rhythm. Some people in the music business thought the record sounded strange and would never become a hit. Fortunately, they were wrong. You have the great Ben E. King’s lead vocal. His voice gave the song both power and its heartbreak.
The song became a major hit and helped reshape popular music. The song reached the Top 10 and opened the door for more ambitious productions in soul and pop music. Looking back, it is easy to hear how records from the 1960s were influenced by it. More than sixty years later, it still sounds fresh. Not bad for a song that many people thought was too unusual to succeed.
The song peaked at #2 on the Billboard 100 and #2 on the Billboard R&B Charts in 1959.
I’ve only done this once, but sometimes I run across amateurs doing a cover of a song. Rarely do I stop and think, oh I must post this. She is far from perfect in this, but she knows what the song is about. This is really a simple version, but she finds the essence of this song. You can hear cars pass by while she is doing this. It shows you how great the song is when you can express it perfectly over a lone acoustic and a voice. She goes by “Blazin’ Blair” and this was like 15 years ago. She has appeared on local tv stations where she lives. It’s lo-fi and raw, but the spirit is there. Something about it…hit me the right way…especially the intro.
There Goes My Baby
Bom-bom (do-do-do-do-do)
There she goes (do-do-do-do-do)
There she goes (do-do-do-do-do)
Bom-bom (do-do-do-do)
Bom-bom (do-do-do-do)
There goes my baby, movin’ on down the line
Wonder where, wonder where, wonder where she is bound?
I broke her heart and made her cry
Now I’m alone, so all alone
What can I do, what can I do?
There goes my baby (whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh)
There goes my baby (yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah)
There goes my baby (whoa-oh-oh-oh)
There she goes, yeah, there she goes
I wanna know if she loved me
Did she really love me?
Was she just playing me for a fool?
I wonder why she left me
Why did she leave me so all alone?
So all alone?
I was gonna tell her that I loved her
And that I need her
Beside my side to be my guide
I wanna know, where is my – (do-do-do-do-do)
Where is my baby? (Do-do-do-do-do)
I want my baby (do-do-do-do-do)
I need my baby (do-do-do-do-do)
Yeah, whoa-oh-oh
There goes my baby
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh
There goes my baby
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Cool! 😎
It amazes me how you can hold down a job, as well as parenting, write posts for two of your own blogs and have a house full of 4 legged dingos running around. I’m tired just thinking about that. lol.
Well I am cutting down on a post a week because of that. On Friday there will be only one from the Ships thing and that is probabaly it for a Friday for right now. I usually write these on Mon-Thur nights…so it’s not too bad.
Speaking of the dingos…they are yapping this morining like geese…I came by and mocked them jokingly…and one of them barked at me! lol.
You have dingos?
lol… puppies from Martha
Oh, goodness 🥰😍
https://powerpop.blog/2026/06/07/puppies-galore/
OMG CUTE!!!
Yes….they are! They are a lot of fun
I’d take one but, Ollie would have a nervous breakdown. Are you selling them or keeping them?
We are finding them a good homes…we thought about selling them because people are getting 200 minimum for a “Saint Pyrenees” but we are making sure people will keep him/her inside so we are giving them away from people we know. We are keeping one! I would give you one!
I’d take a puppy. I had a puppy when I was little. Don’t remember breed but, remember the name “Andy.” My mom did not like animals & Andy disappeared. My grandmothers had dogs. Uncles & Aunts had dogs. I like cats or dogs. Ken had a blind Chocolate Lab when I moved in. When he passed, Ken’s godson gave us a Goldie. I wish you weren’t so far away. They are so cute. Ray still misses his Husky.
My mom would not let any animal in the house at all…so…when Max grew up…what was the biggest dog he would want? LOL
No we had
Encyclopedias at home and I would look at the dogs and I fell for Saint Bernards.
They are very loyal, just like a Lab.
Along with the Platters, the Drifters were two outstanding contributors to this period of unforgettably great American music. Wonderful post, Max.
Thank you Nancy! This kind of song puts me in the 1950s.
It should be listened to while enjoying a glass of wine and watching the sunset with a special someone.
That would fit very well.
I love that “bom-bom, didi-didit, do-do-do-do-do” opening.
Yea that fits it well with that time period.
Beautiful song and voices. Strings are incredible. Nice post. How are things in Puppyland? I was wondering, did you find out Buddy’s real name?
It really is…the song is so beautifully done.
They are rambunctious but a lot of fun! I’ll miss them though when they leave. July 4 weekend is the 8 week mark…so that is when it happens. Good thing is the neighbor is taking one and we are…and someone else is taking two so some will grow up with a brother or sister together.
Top notch tune
A great tune that was ahead of its time in terms of the complexity of the tune and production. Another great from Ben E King. The girl has a good voice and maybe would sound quite decent in a studio.
Yes it was…listening to it again the other day…I realized how much it was ahead of it’s time.
Yea she did a good job in that setting. She is a talented lady no doubt. I’ve played outside like that…it kinda adds some charm to it hearing the car pass.
There are good buskers out there on the streets here and there
I agree….I love it. Many times they get to what is very good about the song in a simple version…
Sometimes you find a gem sitting on a street corner. Before Stanley Jordan (two-hand tapping jazz guitarist) went to NYC and got a recording contract, he played on the streets here. Also the incredible bassist Josh Cohen spent a couple of summers busking here.
On your buskers comment Dave, it’s hard for me to open my wallet for the majority I pass- usually soullessly delivered dead pan vocals and languid no-chord-change guitar strumming- but one or two lately have made me stop and fish around around in my (tight pocketed) jeans. A few- and it is just a few- are damned good and deserve more than my small change.
Great!
Remember this?
https://cosmic-observation.com/2021/07/07/hans-2021-song-draft-round-one-pick-three-there-goes-my-baby-drifters-1959/
Ah yes! I remember that!
Always a reminder of growing up shagging & heading to the beach.
Like you Max I need a shot of this great music often. Keep them coming
It’s so good…anyway you slice it.
Fascinating. Thank you.
A top Drifters tune, one I well know, and yet my mind immediately went to the Tremeloes ‘Here Comes My Baby!’ Back to the time I started to really listen to music rather than it being the background noise coming from my older bros bedroom. Those songs get embedded in the growing adolescents brain.
…written by Cat Stevens!
True, thanks Li, I’d forgotten that Cat did write it. The Tremeloes had a few pure pop 60s fun feeling songs.
Ob I’m sure The Tremeloes made a hit out of it. It’s the one I remember from the radio.
Yea…some of my sisters music did that to me…at least your brother had good taste!
Yeah, he did. Well, he did buy a discounted Val Doonican record once. That dented his rep, even in my tender younger years.
I had to look up Val Doonican…yes reputation pinged slightly lol.
It’s a swell tune and takes me to American Grafitti movie, and I don’t even know if it is on that movie’s soundtrack.
Looking at the title, I thought it was this song, written by Cat Stevens. Way back when I had the album,”Matthew & Son.” It’s probably still down in my ex-husband’s basement with all of the rest of my albums that I gave him when we got divorced.
https://youtu.be/kfsHTufW1z4?si=oW9TKX0b4oKgNTVC
I used to get the title mixed up with that one! But instead of Cat’s version I heard the Tremelos version…same song and of course Steven’s wrote it. Later on I got to know Cat Steven’s version.
I bought that album as a teenage, through a record club, when I was living with my grandparents (one of the multiple times my mom and stepdad got tired of my obnoxiousness.)
I bought two growing up of his…Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat…wish you still had it! Yea we all go through that obnoxiousnes stage.
Kind of works with the really basic sound, right? The raw vocal in the front, and the strings out back.
It does… a mixture of both worlds.
great song deserves to be better known
Yes I agree…I get it mixed up with the Cat Stevens song…teh title…but yes it is a classic great song.