Here Comes My Baby couldn’t be a better song to capture the delight and bouncy mood my daughter Katherine puts me into. We went on a bit of a Wes Anderson spree a week ago – first The Royal Tenenbaums, then Rushmore, both of which featured in my Friday’s Finest movie segment. I can’t overstate how terrific the soundtracks are. And that brings us to today’s song.
There’s this scene in Rushmore where Cat Stevens’ Here Comes My Baby makes its sparkling entrance. The film also uses his understated song The Wind. Rushmore holds an interesting footnote in Stevens’ career: it was the first film permitted to use his songs after his conversion to Islam in the late 1970s (Stevens/Yusuf had largely withheld licensing for two decades).
If there’s one artist whose music I haven’t revisited much as an adult – compared to how absorbed I was as a kid – it’s Cat Stevens, or Yusuf Islam as he’s been known since 1979. Yet this song, Here Comes My Baby, remains the outlier. It’s the one Yusuf track that’s stayed special to me through all these years.
Stevens wrote Here Comes My Baby in the mid-60s, but it first blew up internationally via The Tremeloes, who released their version in January 1967. Stevens released his own take two months later on his debut album Matthew and Son, and thank goodness he did. Yusuf’s recording blends folk-pop with light orchestral touches, giving it that unmistakable 60s London snap. It’s upbeat, but there’s a softness under the bounce. And I don’t know about you, but once the narrative builds and the chorus begins its little emotional tug-through-repetition, it’s impossible not to smile.
In the midnight moonlight
I’ll be walkin’ a long and lonely mile
And every time I do
I keep seein’ this picture of you
Here comes my baby, here she comes now
And that comes as no surprise to me, with another guy
Here comes my baby, here she comes now
Walkin’ with a love, with a love that’s all so fine
Never could be mine, no matter how I try
You never walk alone
And you’re forever talkin’ on the phone
I’ve tried to call you names
But every time it comes out the same
I’m still waitin’ for your heart
Cause I’m sure that some day it’s gonna start
You’ll be mine to hold each day
But till then this is all that I can say
References:
1. Here Comes My Baby (Cat Stevens song) – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
Good song. I’ve always had a soft spot for Cat Stevens. Also, Rushmore. I was never really a Bill Murray fan until this movie.
I loved Cat Stevens’ music in my youth, but not so much now except for this song and perhaps ‘The Wind’ which also featured in Rushmore. Yeh, Bill Murray is at his dead pan best in this most underrated movie. Thanks for chiming in.
I like a good deal of Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ music, especially the albums “Mona Bone Jakon”, “Tea for the Tillerman” and “Teaser and the Firecat.” “The Wind” is the opener of the last one. “Here Comes My Baby” was new to time – also a nice song!
You see, you are much more conversant of his music than I am. I’m glad his music still resonates strongly with you and that you liked the song Christian.
Great movie and song 🎵
It surprised me how few people were familiar with the song, let alone the movie. Yet it doesn’t surprise me you were on the ‘Anderson’ bus, being a hipster doofus like me Haha