Be My Baby (1963) – The Ronettes

Be My Baby was written by Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich at Spector’s office in Los Angeles. Early in 1963, Spector auditioned a vocal group trio – composed of sisters Veronica (also known as “Ronnie“) and Estelle Bennett with their cousin Nedra Talley – who were performing under the names “Ronnie and the Relatives” and “the Ronettes“. Spector, who had been struggling with marital issues, developed a romantic fixation on Ronnie at this time..Biographer Mick Brown surmised that Spector may have “intended Be My Baby as an explicit declaration of his growing feelings for Ronnie“, and that the song, in retrospect, served as a foreshadowing of their marriage, which lasted from the late 1960s through the early 1970s.
– extracts from the Wikipedia reference below

I was reminded of this monumental 60’s song from Max’s post last year in his PowerPop blog. Be My Baby produced by Phil Spector using a full orchestra and employing his Wall of Sound technique is renowned by some as one of the greatest 60’s musical achievements. The song was the Ronettes‘ biggest hit, reaching number 2 in the U.S. and number 4 in the UK. In 2006, the Library of Congress inducted the Ronettes’ Be My Baby into the United States National Recording Registry.

The song has influenced many artists, most notably the Beach Boys‘ Brian Wilson. It had amazed and inspired Wilson, who wrote in response the 1964 hit Don’t Worry Baby which featured here back in 2021. Brian Wilson even declared Don’t Worry Baby as one of The Beach Boys finest records opining: ‘It has about the best proportion of our voices and ranges‘. Wilson even considered having his song be recorded by the Ronettes instead of the Beach Boys.

[Verse 1]
The night we met I knew I needed you so
And if I had the chance I’d never let you go
So won’t you say you love me?
I’ll make you so proud of me
We’ll make ’em turn their heads every place we go

[Chorus]
So won’t you, please (Be my, be my baby)
Be my little baby? (My one and only baby)
Say you’ll be my darlin’ (Be my, be my baby)
Be my baby now (My one and only baby)
Whoa-oh-oh-oh

[Verse 2]
I’ll make you happy, baby, just wait and see
For every kiss you give me, I’ll give you three
Oh, since the day I saw you
I have been waiting for you
You know I will adore you ’til eternity

[Chorus]

[Cello Bridge]

[Chorus repeat]

Ronnie remembered, “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.” She said that when she sang the song at the session, “the band went nuts. I was 18 years old, 3,000 miles from home, and had all these guys saying I was the next Billie Holiday.”

References:
1. Be My Baby – Wikipedia

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