Put Your Records On

Album: Corinne Bailey Rae (2006)
Charted: 2 64
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Songfacts®:

  • In this peaceful song, Corinne Bailey Rae casts worry aside, because life is better spent with your hair down, listening to records. She wrote the song with John Beck (Tasmin Archer's "Sleeping Satellite") and Steve Chrisanthou.
  • The song's opening line, "Three little birds sat on my window/And they tell me I don't need to worry," is a reference to Bob Marley & The Wailers' 1980 hit single "Three Little Birds."
  • This was Bailey Rae's breakthrough hit. She recalled to Billboard magazine: "It was a shock to me. I thought it was going to be much more of an underground record because it was underproduced. I wasn't expecting that reaction at all."
  • Don't you let those other boys fool you
    Gotta love that Afro hairdo


    The lyric is a message to Bailey-Rae's younger self to embrace her natural hair. When she was a teenager, the trend was for straight tresses and the singer feared being out of step if she didn't follow the fashion.
    "There was this idea that if you had curly hair, you were making this big statement," Bailey Rae explained to Red magazine. "But if you have curly, afro, textured hair, that's just how it is naturally. You're not trying to make yourself bigger, this is just the room you take up."
  • A cover by Salt Lake City-based singer Ritt Momney entered the singles charts worldwide in the 2020 fall. It peaked at #30 in the US and #25 in the UK.


    Ritt Momney was a Salt Lake City based garage band, taking their name from a tongue-in-cheek spoonerism on Utah politician Mitt Romney. The other members left, leaving Jack Rutter to keep the moniker for his solo project.

    Feeling depressed after the coronavirus pandemic started shutting everything down, Rutter wanted something uplifting and recalled his mom playing "Put Your Records On" in the car when he was a child. So he recorded a cover in the basement of his parents' home. Rutter explained to NME: "If someone asked 'what's the most positive and helpful song you could think of right now?' I felt it would always be that song. It reminds me of the simpler time of riding in your mum's car and going to soccer practice or whatever. It's definitely always stuck with me."
  • Girl, put your records on, tell me your favorite song
    You go ahead, let your hair down


    Corinne Bailey Rae noted to Genius that when she was a child, her favorite song was Mariah Carey's "Vision Of Love." She added:

    "I found that as a young person, music was a really amazing way to find confidence and to find self-expression. You could always find that song that's like, 'That's just me. That person knows exactly how I feel.' Certain pop songs. I feel like I just put on music and feel like invincible and super confident and bold and let the music sort of carry you. To me, that's what my favorite song is doing. It would turn me from being someone that was shy or self conscious or uncomfortable into a feeling really sort of bold and confident while that song is on, you kind of live in the song."

Comments: 5

  • April Baby from Ps 189This is the best song ever. The first time i heard it i fell in love.
  • A_girl This songs really calms me down and the words have a strong message
  • RaiyiiiI really love this song.
  • A- ..a Ya Yeet!This song is a certified vibe.
  • Someone from SomewhereBeautiful song,My daughter is in love with it.
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