One of the greatest things about “Be My Baby” (and its most subtle attribute) is that Ronnie Spector sings this song with, to me, a sense of desperation that I think most people miss. I think most people mistake this song for a Norman Rockwell-ian notion of young love that is so nostalgically delicious. You can certainly back up the young love notion simply by citing the lyrics—lyrics such as
“I’ll make you happy, baby
Just wait and see
For every kiss you give me
I’ll give you three”
Reek of outdated images of female domestication and wearing aprons while vacuuming the living room nowadays. But listen to the inflections of Spector’s voice as she sings “Be my little baby,” or “Oh, since the day I saw you” at the 01:07 mark. There are times when her voice cracks so slightly, so perfectly, that it sounds more like someone who knows they are going to eventually lose the love of the man in the song rather than build an eternity with him.
One story goes that Phil Spector wanted this song to be sung in a particular way. He let Ronnie try it out and after almost fifty takes the master recording was done. I do not know for certain if Phil Spector’s re-takes were the result of someone overly meticulous about everything (see: Kubrick, Stanley), but my guess is that he wanted this particular song to encompass something more than just his Wall Of Sound. The vocals of “Be My Baby” needed to be as ear-grabbing and inviting as the indelible drum intro.
Or to put this all into a different context altogether, consider these two opposite ends of the spectrum. Exhibit A: for many people (specifically, women in their late 20′s and older), “Be My Baby” is the song that is used in a montage in the movie Dirty Dancing—its use intended to better show the nascent infatuation between Patrick Swayze’s character and Jennifer Grey’s character. (Again, the Rockwell-ian projection of the song.) On the other hand Exhibit B: “Be My Baby” was one of Brian Wilson’s all-time favorite songs. It was the basis for “Don’t Worry Baby” by The Beach Boys and Phil Spector’s Wall Of Sound played a major role in the musical crafting of Pet Sounds, Wilson’s masterwork. What I mean is, it is worth mentioning that “Be My Baby” had an impact on one of the more tortured musical icons of the last fifty years. I do not think that this is a coincidence.
Though this song is credited as being performed by The Ronettes, Ronnie was the only one of the three girls involved in its recording. The legacy of this song is vast and wide[1] and while you may not necessarily see it as the borderline sad and almost painful pop song that I do, you would be hard pressed to argue that it is not worthy of Pantheon status.
“Be My Baby” forever changed teen pop music and in a way it provided a bridge for those droves of kids who fell in love with the idea of falling in love to the more painful realism that would greet them a few years later.
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[1] I would argue that the following procession of events occurred because of the release of “Be My Baby” in 1963: Brian Wilson is influenced by the song which culminates with the making of Pet Sounds —> The production value of Pet Sounds influences how The Beatles make Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band —> Sgt. Pepper’s gives the world “A Day In The Life” which redefines the structure of a pop song, as well as the album itself acting as a blueprint for future concept albums —> the concept album reaches its zenith with the release of Dark Side Of The Moon —> and on and on. This is a very loose description of a chain of events in rock history but you get the message: I hold “Be My Baby” in very high regard in terms of rock history and I think it acts as a tipping point for a lot of the music released after its production.
