Album: Hey Baby (1962)

Charted: 2 1

License This Song 

Songfacts®:

• Channel wrote this around 1959 with his friend Margaret Cobb. He had already been performing the tune for a couple of years before recording it amidst a series of demos for Fort Worth producer Major Bill Smith. First released locally on Smith's label, it was picked up for national distribution by Smash.
• Delbert McClinton played the harmonica part. At one Channel's shows, he was supported by a then-unknown Liverpool group, the Beatles. John Lennon was so impressed with the harmonica intro that he asked McClinton how to play it. A year later a similar harmonica passage showed up on The Beatles "Love Me Do."
• In 2001, 20-year-old Austrian producer/DJ Gerry Friedle, who performed under the name of DJ Otzi, recorded a Euro Dance version of this with added "ooh aahs." When he was a DJ he was always doing "ooh aahs" and he found the audience loved it. His version reached #1 in the UK, rising from #45 to replace Bob The Builder at the top, the highest ever leap to #1 in the UK. Otzi's initial goal in life was to be a farmer; a plan he was forced to abandon due to a fear of cows. He turned to music during chemotherapy for testicular cancer. He had 2 more UK top 10 hits, following up with his version of Manfred Mann's "Do Wah Diddy"(#9) and the following year a #10 hit with a remixed version of this to coincide with the 2002 soccer World Cup. By this time "Hey Baby" had become a song football supporters sang at matches. >>>

  Suggestion credit:
  Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England
• This was the first Hot 100 #1 with an exclamation point in its title.
• Several country stars have covered the track, most notably Anne Murray, whose 1982 version topped the Canadian country chart and reached #7 in the US. Conway Twitty, Jerry Lee Lewis , Alabama and Lady Antebellum have also recorded their own interpretations, the latter for the 2017 ABC remake of Dirty Dancing.

Comments: 8

• Sam Williams from Sherman Oaks CaThis is definitely the ultimate “ guy cold approaches a girl, guy gets rejected by the girl he cold approached” song. It’s hard to think of other songs with this particular lyrical theme. And it’s obvious that he has more of a sexual attraction towards her but he still wants to “maker her his”. He does come across as if he’s trying too hard and he sounds a little desperate in this song, but some 60’s songs are like that. But hey, millions of people bought this record in 1962 and it was a huge hit, so who am I to judge the creepy nature of this songs’s lyrics. I would say probably “Oh Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison is another good example of another song with this particular theme, although that song does have a happy ending. This one doesn’t. Although Pretty Woman does have the same desperate/needy/creepy nature in terms of the song’s lyrics as this song does, but what can I say. These songs did come out in the 60’s. People probably weren’t reading that much into the songs’s lyrics when they bought these 45’s. And the millions of people who still love these songs today probably still don’t read that much into the songs’s lyrics. But hey, I like to overanalyze certain things so there’s that.
• Rabbi Meyer from Central Wisconsin"Hey! Baby" has long been a staple of the Wisconsin marching band's Fifth Quarter set list, usually finding its way into the middle section. When you say Wis-con-sin, you've said it all!
• Michael Little from Rockingham, NcDoes anyone know who plays the piano part in this song?
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn June 21st 1962, Bruce Channel appeared in concert at the Tower Ballroom in New Brighton, England...
  Just a little over eight weeks earlier on April 22nd, 1962 his "Hey! Baby" had peaked at #2 {for 1 week} on the United Kingdom's Singles chart; the week it was at #2, the #1 record for that week was "Wonderful Land" by the Shadows...
  The opening act at the Tower Ballroom concert were the Beatles; and legend has it, that it was at this time that Channel's harmonicist, Delbert McClinton, gave John Lennon a few tips on how to play a harmonica...
  * In the U.S.A. "Hey! Baby" had peaked at #1 {for 3 weeks} on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart on March 4th, 1962.
• Rich from Portsmouth, NhAs a Baby Boomer, I _loved_ whenever this would come on the top 40 ! Such emotion in those first 2 words!
• Wes from Fort Worth, Tx, TxThis song was recorded in Fort Worth at a small recording studio off West 7th street, just south of the trinity river bridge. Both of my parents were in the room. My dad, Donny Stevens, was the guitar player on this track. He was a member of The Straitjackets, of which Delbert McClinton was the singer and harmonica player. At the time they recorded it, they had no idea what a huge hit this was going to be and I'm not sure if anyone who originally recorded it was compensated when it was released on Smash records.
• Richard from Andersonville, TnWhat happened to the rectangle near the top of each page that allowed the song to load and play?
• Paige from Derry, NhThis was feautured in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing. The movie starred Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey.

More Songfacts:

Room At The TopTom Petty & the Heartbreakers

One of Tom Petty's most personal songs is "Room At The Top," which he stopped performing because it brought back painful memories.

The Memory RemainsMetallica

An unexpected guest vocal: Marianne Faithfull on the Metallica song "The Memory Remains." A star in the '60s, this collaboration helped revive her career.

Everything ZenBush

References to David Bowie, Tom Waits and Allan Ginsburg are peppered into the Bush song "Everything Zen."

Beautiful LoserBob Seger

Bob Seger's song "Beautiful Loser" was inspired by book Leonard Cohen published in 1966 called Beautiful Losers.

She Loves YouThe Beatles

"She Loves You" by The Beatles was the song that convinced Ozzy Osbourne to make music his life. The Beatles were a big influence on him because they were also poor kids from a small town in England.

Coming HomeDiddy - Dirty Money

"Coming Home" by Diddy - Dirty Money was originally iwritten for for T.I., who was getting out of prison at the time.

Editor's Picks

Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of WayneSongwriter Interviews

The guy who brought us "Stacy's Mom" also wrote the Jane Lynch Emmy song and Stephen Colbert's Christmas songs.

Art Alexakis of EverclearSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer of Everclear, Art is also their primary songwriter.

Bill Medley of The Righteous BrothersSongwriter Interviews

Medley looks back on "Unchained Melody" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" - his huge hits from the '60s that were later revived in movies.

Dave MasonSongwriter Interviews

Dave reveals the inspiration for "Feelin' Alright" and explains how the first song he ever wrote became the biggest hit for his band Traffic.

Michael W. SmithSongwriter Interviews

Smith breaks down some of his worship tracks as well as his mainstream hits, including "I Will Be Here For You" and "A Place In This World."

Matt SorumSongwriter Interviews

When he joined Guns N' Roses in 1990, Matt helped them craft an orchestral sound; his mezzo fortes and pianissimos are all over "November Rain."