Tag: Baby Please Don’t Go

AC/DC – Baby Please Don’t Go

When I first saw this video it highly amused me. Seeing Bon Scott in pigtails caught me off guard. They did a great version of this song…I will always turn to Van Morrison’s Them as my definite version, but this one is a lot of fun.

This song appeared on their debut album High Voltage released in 1974. Bon Scott was an excellent singer. He was in a pop band called The Valentines and it’s odd, to say the least seeing him singing in this band. He adapted well to what was asked of him with AC/DC.

The band toured relentlessly in the mid to late seventies and when they released Highway To Hell, it was a milestone for them. They set themselves up for a huge payday on the next album. Scott died in 1980 as they were starting on their new album which turned out to be the mega-selling Back In Black. I think if Scott had lived they would have had just as big of an album. The Highway To Hell album was the key to getting them known worldwide.

Blues great Big Joe Williams is credited with writing this song, but it was developed from a folk song titled “Long John,” which was recorded in 1934 by John and Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress. That recording captures the song sung by black prisoners at Darrington State Prison Farm in Texas. It was a popular tune because “Long John” was about an escaped prisoner on the run from authorities.

Baby Please Don’t Go

Baby please don’t goBaby please don’t goBaby please don’t go down to New OrleansYou know I love you soBaby please don’t go

When the man done goneWhen the man done goneWhen the man done gone down to the county farmHe got the shackles onBaby please don’t goDon’t leave me

I’ll be a dogI’ll be a dog woahI’ll be a dog kiss your way down thereWhen you walk alongBaby please don’t go

Baby please don’t goBaby please don’t goBaby please don’t go down to New OrleansYou know I love you soBaby please don’t go

No baby please don’t leave meWhy must you go away and do this to me babyI want to suffer for you, suffer, sufferOh baby please don’t goNo!

Baby, baby, baby, please don’t go, please don’t goDon’t go and leave me, please don’t goBaby, hummBaby, ahahOh don’t go, no don’t goOh don’t go, no don’t goAh don’t go, don’t go so slowOh don’t go, no don’t go

Why must you leave me lying on my backGoing across left side of the trackFound yourself a new man I knowSo baby please don’t goBaby please don’t go

No no no noOh please, please don’t leave meI don’t want to be left alone babyAh don’t go, don’t go, don’t goNo!

…

Them – Baby Please Don’t Go

There are many versions of this old blues song but the one I know the best is Them featuring a 19-year-old Van Morrison on lead vocal. This song was the A-side to Gloria when it was released. Gloria ended up being the hit but this one managed to peak at #10 in 1961 and #65 in the UK in 1991.

Morrison based Them’s version on John Lee Hooker’s 1949 arrangement, which he titled “Don’t Go Baby.” He heard the song on Hooker’s 1959 Highway of Blues album.

A pre-Led Zeppelin Jimmy Page, a session musician at the time, played guitar on Them’s version. There’s debate over whether or not he wrote the guitar part or simply played what Them’s Billy Harrison came up with. Whether or not Page is actually the one playing is, itself, debated.

Blues great Big Joe Williams is credited with writing this song, but it was developed from a folk song titled “Long John,” which was recorded in 1934 by John and Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress. That recording captures the song being sung by black prisoners working at Darrington State Prison Farm in Texas. It was a popular tune there because “Long John” was about an escaped prisoner on the run from authorities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6RNptsBorM

Baby, Please Don’t Go

Baby, please don’t go
Baby, please don’t go
Baby, please don’t go
Down to New Orleans
You know I love you so
Baby, please don’t go

Baby, your mind done gone
Well, your mind done gone
Left the county farm
You had the shackles on
Baby, please don’t go

Before I be your dog
Before I be your dog
Before I be your dog
To git you way down here
I make you walk alone
Baby, please don’t go
Hey

Baby, please don’t go
Baby, please don’t go
Baby, please don’t go
Down to New Orleans
You know I love you so
Baby, please don’t go

Before I be your dog
Before I be your dog
Before I be your dog
Git you way down here
Make you walk alone
Baby, please don’t go

Know how I feel right now
My baby leavin’, on that midnight train
And I’m cryin’

Baby, please don’t go
Oh, baby please don’t go
Baby, please don’t go
Down to New Orleans
You know I love you so
Baby, please don’t go
Let’s go

Before I be your dog
Before I be your dog
Before I be your dog
To git you way down here
I make you walk alone
Baby, please don’t go, yeah

Alright