Baby I'm Yours (Barbara Lewis song)

"Baby I'm Yours" is a song written by Van McCoy which was a hit in 1965 for Barbara Lewis, the original recording artist. The song was featured in the 1995 film The Bridges of Madison County and was included on the soundtrack album. It was also featured in the TV movies The Midnight Hour (1985) and An American Crime (2007), as well as briefly featured in Baby Driver.

"Baby I'm Yours"
Single by Barbara Lewis
from the album Baby I'm Yours
B-side"I Say Love"
ReleasedJune 1965
GenreR&B
Length2:30
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)Van McCoy
Producer(s)
Barbara Lewis singles chronology
"Pushin' a Good Thing Too Far"
(1964)		 "Baby I'm Yours"
(1965)		 "Make Me Your Baby"
(1965)

Composition and original recording

Barbara Lewis first recorded "Baby I'm Yours" in a January 8, 1965 Atlantic Recording Studios (NYC) session directed by Bert Berns with the producer credit assigned to Lewis's manager Ollie McLaughlin. The session for the track featured George "Teacho" Wiltshire conducting his orchestra, whose personnel included Clark Terry and Dud Bascomb (trumpets), Jimmy Cleveland and Tony Studd (trombones), Frank Haywood Henry (baritone sax), Charlie Brown (tenor sax), Paul Griffin (piano), Bill Suyker (guitar), Jimmy Lewis (bass), Gary Chester (drums), and Artie Butler (percussion/ handclaps); the harmony background vocals on the track were provided by the song's composer, Van McCoy, singing with Kendra Spotswood [1]

Barbara Lewis has stated that Van McCoy wrote "Baby I'm Yours" specifically for her. When she first heard the demo for "Baby I'm Yours" Lewis disliked the song — she has suggested that she actually was daunted by the high quality of the vocal, by McCoy himself, on the demo [2] — and at the original session "I didn't really put 100% into my vocal performance" hoping that Atlantic would shelve the track as sub-par. "Ollie [McLaughlin] told me 'Barbara, we're gonna have to go back to Detroit and dub you in. We gotta do your vocals over. You're just not giving like you should on the song.' We did several takes [in Detroit] and he was wondering 'How am I going to get this girl to give? She's so hard-headed.' He said 'You know, Barbara, Karen can sing that song better than you.' That was his little daughter. And it pissed me off. I did one more take, and that was the take that they selected." [3] It has also been reported that Lewis dubbed her vocal in a Chicago studio.[4]

Commercial performance

Released in April 1965, Lewis' "Baby I'm Yours" enjoyed staggered regional success exemplified by the single reaching #1 in Detroit as early as June 1965 and peaking at #4 in Chicago that August: the national peak of the single was #11 achieved on the Hot 100 in Billboard dated August 21, 1965. "Baby I'm Yours" afforded Lewis a #5 R&B chart hit.

Charts
Chart (1965) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100[5] 11
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[6] 5
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[7] 7

The Paramounts/ Peter and Gordon versions
"Baby I'm Yours"
Single by Peter and Gordon
from the album Lady Godiva
B-side"When the Black of Your Eyes Turns to Grey"
Released1965
RecordedAbbey Road Studios
GenrePop
Length2:39
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Van McCoy
Producer(s)Norman Newell
Peter and Gordon singles chronology
"To Know You is to Love You"
(1965)		 "Baby I'm Yours"
(1965)		 "Woman"
(1966)

A version by Peter and Gordon was released in 1965 by Columbia: the track would be included on the duo's 1966 Lady Godiva album.

Development

The first UK recording of "Baby I'm Yours" was made by the Paramounts at Abbey Road Studios in the summer of 1965, but the track went unreleased until their 1998 compilation release The Paramounts at Abbey Road 1963 to 1970. A higher-profile act also on the Columbia [UK] roster, Peter and Gordon, had the UK hit version of the song, released October 15, 1965, which reached #19 in the UK. The Peter and Gordon version was recorded in an Abbey Road session produced by Norman Newell and featuring Big Jim Sullivan on guitar.[8] Peter Asher — who was partnered with Gordon Waller as Peter and Gordon — would recall: "We did 'Baby I’m Yours' because I loved the original Barbara Lewis record."[9]

Commercial performance

"Baby I'm Yours" is unique among Peter and Gordon singles as their sole collaboration with arranger Tony Osborne, who took over from the duo's original regular collaborator Geoff Love (subsequent to "Baby I'm Yours" Peter and Gordon regularly collaborated with arranger/conductor Bob Leaper). Also in deference to the US success of the Barbara Lewis version, Capitol Records (Peter and Gordon's US label of release) did not issue the duo's "Baby I'm Yours" single; the Peter and Gordon US single release concurrent with their UK "Baby I'm Yours" single release was "Don't Pity Me", a composition by the duo which peaked at #83. "Baby I'm Yours" was the first Peter and Gordon UK single not be released concurrently in the US.

Charts
Chart (1965) Peak
position
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[10] 19

Jody Miller version
"Baby I'm Yours"
Single by Jody Miller
from the album He's So Fine
B-side"Good Lovin' (Makes It Right)"
ReleasedSeptember 1, 1971
RecordedJune 16, 1971
GenreCountrypolitan
Length3:09
LabelEpic
Songwriter(s)Van McCoy
Producer(s)Billy Sherrill
Jody Miller singles chronology
"He's So Fine"
(1971)		 "Baby I'm Yours"
(1971)		 "Be My Baby"
(1972)

Jody Miller recorded "Baby I'm Yours" with producer Billy Sherrill1 in a June 16, 1971 session at the Columbia studio in Nashville for inclusion on the album He's So Fine, entitled for Miller's current Top Ten C&W remake of the Chiffons' 1963 #1 hit.

Development

Miller's recording of "Baby I'm Yours" featured the Jordanaires chorale. Impressed by the 1968 Tammy Wynette hit "Stand by Your Man", Miller had contacted that track's producer Billy Sherrill in the hopes of reviving her own flagging recording career. After Look at Mine — Miller's first album in Sherrill's charge — generated two Top Twenty C&W hits in 1970, Sherrill opted for a new musical direction for Miller, who recalls: "He said I didn't phrase my words like a country singer, so we took some old, sexy pop songs and put in a little boppy steel guitar."[11] Issued September 1, 1971 as the second single off He's So Fine, "Baby I'm Yours" reached #5 C&W and #21 Adult Contemporary and afforded Miller her fifth and final Hot 100 showing with a Hot 100 peak of #91.

Charts
Chart (1971) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100[12] 91
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[13] 5
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[14] 21
Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)[15] 25
Canada Country Tracks (RPM)[16] 8

Cass Elliot version
"Baby I'm Yours"
Single by Cass Elliot
from the album Cass Elliot
B-side"Cherries Jubilee"
ReleasedFebruary 1972
Recorded1971
GenrePop
Length2:28
LabelRCA
Songwriter(s)Van McCoy
Producer(s)Lewis Merenstein
Cass Elliot singles chronology
"Too Much Truth, Too Much Love"
(1971)		 "Baby I'm Yours"
(1972)		 "That Song"
(1972)

Cass Elliot's remake of "Baby I'm Yours" was released in February 1972 at the same time as its parent album Cass Elliot.

Development

Elliot's version was produced by Lewis Merenstein and arranged/conducted by Benny Golson. The album was Elliot's debut for RCA Victor who insisted on "Baby I'm Yours" release as the lead single over Elliott and Merenstein's choice: "That Song", a new song by Bill Dean, which would be given single release in April 1972.[17] Neither "Baby I'm Yours" or "That Song" afforded Elliot an appearance on a Billboard chart. Elliot's "Baby I'm Yours" charted on the Canadian Adult Contemporary hitlist, peaking at #18.[18]

Track list
CD single
  1. "Baby I'm Yours"
  2. "Cherries Jubilee"

Charts
Chart (1972) Peak
position
Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)[19] 18

Linda Lewis version
"Baby I'm Yours"
Single by Linda Lewis
ReleasedMarch 19, 1976
GenreDisco
Length3:37
LabelArista
Songwriter(s)Van McCoy
Producer(s)
  • Bert DeCoteaux
  • Tony Silvester
Linda Lewis singles chronology
"Rock and Roller Coaster"
(1975)		 "Baby I'm Yours"
(1976)		 "This Time I'll Be Sweeter"
(1976)

In May 1976, a disco remake of "Baby I'm Yours" was released by Linda Lewis, who in 1967 had chosen Lewis as her professional surname in honor of Barbara Lewis, the original singer of "Baby I'm Yours".[20]

Development

Recorded subsequent to Lewis' 1975 album Not a Little Girl Anymore, and not included on her next album release Woman Overboard (1977), "Baby I'm Yours" was included as a bonus track on the 2001 CD release of Not a Little Girl Anymore. The song reached #33 in United Kingdom charts.

Track list
CD single
  1. "Baby I'm Yours"
  2. "The Other Side"

Charts
Chart Peak
position
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[21] 33

Debby Boone version
"Baby I'm Yours"
Single by Debby Boone
from the album You Light Up My Life
B-side"God Knows"
ReleasedMay 1978
Recorded1977
GenreEasy listening
Length3:09
LabelWarner Bros.
Songwriter(s)Van McCoy
Producer(s)
Debby Boone singles chronology
"California"
(1978)		 "Baby I'm Yours" / "God Knows"
(1978)		 "When You're Loved"
(1978)

Debby Boone recorded "Baby I'm Yours" in the summer of 1977 with the track included on Boone's album You Light Up My Life

Development

The song was issued as a single in March 1978 with "God Knows", a track from Boone's Midstream album, as its flip side. Peter Noone, the co-writer of "God Knows", has alleged "['God Knows'] was originally intended to be the A-side. But the record company chickened out and went with [the] cover of 'Baby I'm Yours' instead."[22] Boone's "Baby I'm Yours" peaked at #33 C&W while on the Hot 100 the track peaked at #74 and on the Easy Listening it reached #14, both in a tandem ranking with "God Knows".

Track list
CD single
  1. "Baby I'm Yours"
  2. "God Knows"

Charts
Chart (1978) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100[23] 74
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[24] 18
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[25] 33

Tanya Tucker version
"Baby I'm Yours"
Single by Tanya Tucker
from the album Changes
ReleasedJuly 1983
GenreCountrypolitan
Length3:31
LabelArista
Songwriter(s)Van McCoy
Producer(s)David Malloy
Tanya Tucker singles chronology
"Changes"
(1982)		 "Baby I'm Yours"
(1983)		 "One Love at a Time"
(1986)

Tanya Tucker recorded "Baby I'm Yours" for her sole Arista album release Changes, from which the song was issued as the third single in July 1983, peaking at C&W #22.

Track list
CD single 1
  1. "Baby I'm Yours"
  2. "I Don't Want You to Go"
CD single 2
  1. "Baby I'm Yours"
  2. "Baby I'm Yours" (Radio edit)
  3. "Baby I'm Yours" (Remix)
  4. "I Don't Want You to Go"

Charts
Chart (1983) Peak
position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[26] 22

Cher version
"Baby I'm Yours"
Single by Cher
from the album Mermaids Soundtrack
B-side"Hard Enough Getting Over You"
ReleasedOctober 1990
Recorded1990
GenrePop rock
Length3:19
LabelGeffen
Songwriter(s)Van McCoy
Producer(s)Peter Asher
Cher singles chronology
"You Wouldn't Know Love"
(1990)		 "Baby I'm Yours"
(1990)		 "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)"
(1990)

Background

Cher remade "Baby I'm Yours" for the soundtrack of her 1990 film vehicle Mermaids. Cher's version was arranged to replicate Barbara Lewis' hit, and was produced by Peter Asher, who as a member of Peter and Gordon had had the UK hit of "Baby I'm Yours". The song was not featured in the film but was selected as the lead single from the soundtrack for release in the UK and Europe after the US single release "The Shoop Shoop Song" — which as remade by Cher had played under the film's closing credits — fell short of the Billboard Top Thirty. "Baby I'm Yours" failed as a single; its only apparent charting was in the UK at #89 and its estimated global sales tally is 100,000 units[27] "The Shoop Shoop Song" was released in the spring of 1991 with "Baby I'm Yours" as the B-side, and spent five weeks at #1 in the UK and achieved Top Ten status in several European countries as well as Australia and New Zealand. (Coincidentally the precedent charting single to the Linda Lewis 1976 UK hit remake of "Baby I'm Yours" had been the first major UK hit version of "The Shoop Shoop Song", entitled "It's in His Kiss".)

Formats and track listings

"Baby I'm Yours" European CD single

  1. Baby I'm Yours
  2. Hard Enough Getting Over You
  3. Just Like Jesse James

"Baby I'm Yours" European 7" single

  1. A: Baby I'm Yours
  2. B: Hard Enough Getting Over You

"Baby I'm Yours" European 12" single

  1. A: Baby I'm Yours
  2. B1: Hard Enough Getting Over You
  3. B2: Just Like Jesse James

Charts
Chart (1990) Peak
position
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[28] 89

Other versions
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References
  1. Selvin, Joel (2014). Here Comes the Night: the dark soul of Bert Berns & the dirty business of rhythm & blues. Berkeley CA: Counterpoint. p. 391. ISBN 978-1619025417.
  2. Lewis, Barbara (August 2007). "interview, Barbara Lewis". Ronnie Allen Show (Interview). Interviewed by Ronnie Allen.
  3. "Liner Notes for Barbara Lewis's The Complete Atlantic Singles". Retrieved November 5, 2013.
  4. Selvin, Joel (2014). Here Comes the Night: the dark soul of Bert Berns & the dirty business of rhythm & blues. Berkeley CA: Counterpoint. p. 280. ISBN 978-1619025417.
  5. "Barbara Lewis Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  6. "Barbara Lewis Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard.
  7. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 5644." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  8. "Big Jim Sullivan - The Hits". Overzeal.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-09-28.
  9. "Peter Asher Interview". PennyBlackMusic.co.uk. Retrieved November 19, 2013.
  10. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  11. "Blanchard's Jody Miller Prepares to Hit the Road With Daughter". News.OK.com. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
  12. "Jody Miller Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  13. "Jody Miller Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  14. "Jody Miller Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard.
  15. "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 7554." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  16. "Top RPM Country Tracks: Issue 5327." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  17. Fiegel, Eddi (2005). Dream a Little Dream of Me: the life of "Mama" Cass Elliot. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. p. 336. ISBN 0-283-07331-4.
  18. "The Programmers Mor Playlist". RPM Weekly. 1972-01-04. Retrieved 2017-12-30.
  19. "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 7715." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  20. Lewis, Linda (July 3, 2007). "Baby I'm Yours". Big Al Unleashed (Interview). Interviewed by Alex Dyke. Isle of Wight Radio.
  21. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  22. "Peter Noone - Peacemaking (article)/ Blitz (magazine) Sept/Oct 1986". For NoOne. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  23. "Debby Boone Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  24. "Debby Boone Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard.
  25. "Debby Boone Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  26. "Tanya Tucker Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  27. Larocque, Jason (2013). Cher: You Haven't Seen the Last of Me. Charlotte NC: Baker & Taylor Publishing Group. p. 202. ISBN 978-1435135550.
  28. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
  29. "MARY LOU METZGER BIOGRAPHY" (DOC). Retrieved November 22, 2016.
  30. "JoeMcGinty.com: "Baby I'm Yours"-Last Chance Harvey". Joemcginty.typepad.com. 2009-01-07. Retrieved 2016-09-28.
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