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I Want You to Be My Baby

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Wikipedia article




"'I Want You to Be My Baby'" is a jump blues song written by Jon Hendricks for Louis Jordan whose recording, made on May 28, 1953, was released that autumn.



In the summer of 1955 "I Want You to Be My Baby" was remade as the debut disc by comedy musical act Lillian Briggs, resulting in an expedient cover version by veteran vocalist Georgia Gibbs. Producers Hugo & Luigi had Gibbs fly in from her Massachusetts home to New York City on Wednesday 3 August 1955 to cut "I Want You to Be My Baby" that same afternoon. New York City disc jockeys were provided with acetates of the Gibbs' version by the following morning with regular jockey copies being shipped out Friday 5 August 1955.Billboard vol 67 #33 (13 August 1955) p.22 Neither version of the song would reach the Top Ten. Gibbs' version had the higher chart peak at #14 but it was the rough voiced Briggs - whose version peaked at #18 - who had the million seller. In Britain, Annie Ross - John Hendricks' future co-partner in Lambert, Hendricks & Ross - had an October 1955 single release of "I Want You to Be My Baby" recorded with Tony Crombie & His Orchestra. Neither this disc nor a 1956 UK single release of "I Want You to Be My Baby" by Don Lang charted.

Ellie Greenwich, who as a teenager saw Lillian Briggs sing her hit at Alan Freed's rock and roll shows, chose "I Want You to Be My Baby" as the song to launch her career as a solo recording artist. Produced by Bob Crewe, Greenwich's version reached #83 in the spring of 1967, marking her only US chart appearance as a recording artist apart from her singles with The Raindrops. She included the song on her 1968 debut solo album 'Ellie Greenwich Composes, Produces and Sings'.

The song became a UK Top 40 hit in the autumn of 1968 via a recording by Billie Davis. Produced by 'Ready Steady Go!' co-host Michael Aldred and arranged by Mike Vickers, Davis' version featured a chorale comprising Madeline Bell, Kiki Dee, Kay Garner, Doris Troy and the Moody Blues. The single's failure to rise no higher than #33 was attributed to a strike at the Decca processing plant, which stopped the pressing of discs. In February 1956, the British music magazine 'NME' reported that Ross's version of the song was banned from airplay by the BBC due to the lyric "Come upstairs and have some loving".

In November 1970 the Jyve Fyve reached #50 on the R&B chart with their remake of "I Want You to Be My Baby".

The song has also been recorded by Jimmy and the Mustangs, Colin James, Lindisfarne, Natasha England, Janis Siegel, and Leslie Uggams.' Pittsburgh Courier' 4 March 1967 "Wax Works" by Hazel Garland p.13 A Finnish rendering - "Armaani S Silloin Oisit" - was recorded by Wiola Talvikki. It was also a hit for Chinese singer Grace Chang who performed the song in both Mandarin Chinese ( "Wo Yao Ni de Ai") and English in the late 1950s. There was another rendition of the song in a classic 1958 Tamil movie 'Uthama puthiran', entitled "Yaaradi Ni Mohini". The song was turned into the title song of the Italian TV show 'Canzonissima' in 1960, with the title Tu lei lui voi noi, sang by Wilma De Angelis and Johnny Dorelli.

References



Category:1955 singles

Category:1968 singles

Category:Songs with lyrics by Jon Hendricks

Category:Annie Ross songs

Category:1953 songs

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