Some songs resonate with you; some don’t. For me, “Be My Baby,” the 1963 Ronettes single written by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and Phil Spector, was your basic girl group hit, nothing special, not even as memorable as “Da Doo Ron Ron” Or “Baby, I Love You,” which the threesome also wrote.
Yet, for a bunch of men of a certain age, “Be My Baby” is a heart-stopper.
Eddie Money’s “Take Me Home Tonight” from 1986 refers to it in the chorus, “Just like Ronnie sang,” complete with Ronnie Spector then singing the signature line. I heard an interview with Money, who’s now 61, back in the day; when he connected via telephone with Ronnie about singing on the song, he was very nervous. He said something to the effect of “Hi Ronnie, how you doin’?” She said, “I’m doin’ the dishes.”
Ta-dum.
Then there’s Bob Seger, whose 1976 “Night Moves,” one of the most poignant introspective rock songs of all time, refers to “humming a song from 1962.” Seger, now 65, has said in interviews that that song was “Be My Baby,” never mind that “Be My Baby” didn’t come out till the next year. Artistic license and all.
I remember being with a close friend, now 64, a few years back, who motioned me to be quiet when “Be My Baby” came on the radio. “What is it with guys your age and that song?” I asked. “You had to be there” was all he’d say.
Seger closes “Night Moves” by talking about how strange the night moves “with autumn closing in.” He was 31 when he wrote the song.
It’s now December in Arlington, Virginia, where I live. I’m 54… and both in time of life and time of year, winter’s closing in. I think about the songs from my life that have inspired my writing and fire my memories… “Yesterday’s Wine” by Willie Nelson; “Layla” by Derek & the Dominoes; “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi; “Color My World” by Chicago; “American City Suite” by Cashman & West; “Miracles” by Jefferson Starship. And if you scratch your head a little and wonder how those songs could be significant to anyone, I guess I’d echo that old friend:
You had to be there.
………aw, you forgot Pissin’ in the Wind by Jerry Jeff Walker………” pissin in the wind, bettin’ on a losin’ end, makin’ the same mistakes we swore we’d never make again”