This playlist’s Spotify link /// M8’s Spotify home.
“Baby Blue” by Badfinger. Even the verse is catchy. And appropriately for this site’s first playlist, a plenty good bridge before the solo. Produced by Todd Rundgren. “My Dixie dear …”
“Baby Driver” by Simon & Garfunkel. Fluff? Maybe. But the giants on Bridge Over Troubled Water are on the pensive side, and you can’t put “The Boxer” and “The Only Living Boy In New York” back-to-back, now, can you? Motor sound effects that drive from left to right! Neat-o!
“Baby, Now That I’ve Found You” by Alison Krauss. Inspired non-bluegrass choice for a cover at the time, and the voice is no less alluring.
“Baby Come Back” by Player. Awwww, yeah. Check that synth sound in the bridge. Plus, of all the songs in the “I was wrong, and I just can’t live without you,” genre, you have to appreciate the one whose lyrics include the phrase, “I was wrong, and I just can’t live without you.”
“Baby Love” by The Supremes. Without the key change, they never would’ve made it to 2:00 for this track. Still, arrangements don’t get this kind of love much anymore.
“Baby, Let Me Follow You Down” by Bob Dylan with The Band. In an evening heavily scripted out of necessity, watching the moment in The Last Waltz when Dylan tears back into this reprise after his scheduled mini-set was and is a thrill. Bob’s unique, uh, vocal stylings perfectly match the song’s urgency. Is there a more convincing use of “Godalmighty” in recorded rock?
Of all the songs in the “I was wrong, and I just can’t live without you,” genre, you have to appreciate the one whose lyrics include the phrase, “I was wrong, and I just can’t live without you.”
“Baby In Two” by Pernice Brothers. I listen to the languid guitar rhythms, the crafted melody, the lyric hiding under the sleepy delivery, and I figure there must be several bands who should just give up because they’ll never do it as well as Joe. Extra fruit cup for the David Essex nod. Check out Yours, Mine & Ours.
“Baby, I Love You” – Going with Aretha’s version here. One of my favorite memories from the band I was in over the ’90s was handling electric piano and teaming up with the guitarist to handle the backup vocals for this song. The song and vocal itself, of course, need no explanation. “I ain’t lyin’ …”
“My Baby” by The Pretenders. Chrissie Hynde, such a tough and cool outer layer, so it’s that much more affecting when she’d write a love song. A pretty artful mix, with often a digital grand piano and what sounds like half a dozen guitars, managing to sound so airy and, well, happy.
“Say Baby” by David Garza. The album before this (This Euphoria) is one of the huge sleepers of the ’90s, imo. Maybe the fact that it stayed a sleeper led to this piece of sweetened but slightly sour, slightly stung advice. A kind of meta earworm.
What are your favorite songs with baby in the title?
p.s. Credit where it’s due — The Foundations performed the original that Allison Krauss covered. It was a #11 hit in the U.S. in 1968 and went all the way to #1 in the UK.
p.p.s. Spotify only carries the Badfinger original, but I really wanted to use the Aimee Mann b-side.
