Arms Of My Baby

Album: Introducing Joss Stone (2007)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song is about the difficulties of maintaining a long-distance relationship while being a touring musician. Joss Stone wrote it on the road while missing her then-lover, Beau Dozier (her beau Beau). The son of Motown producer Lamont Dozier, Beau started dating Stone after he helped her to write "Spoiled" for her 2004 sophomore album, Mind Body & Soul. The pair split in late 2005.

    "That song is about needing to be back somewhere where I feel like home," Stone told Female First in 2007. "Sometimes you need a hug or affection from someone. You can't have that over the phone."
  • At first, Stone wasn't a fan of the salsa flavor in "Arms of My Baby." It was only after Introducing Joss Stone producer Raphael Saadiq added the strings to the song that the British soul singer finally fell in love with it.

    "He's the first person to really get me," Stone said of Saadiq in an interview with Blues & Soul in 2007. "I asked him to let me make my record the way I wanted to and I'd give it to him. I love him for allowing me to do that."
  • Introducing Joss Stone is Stone's third album. She recorded it in collaboration with Saadiq at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas, where AC/DC famously made Back in Black in 1980. Introducing Joss Stone peaked at #2 in the US, making it her highest-charting record in America.

    In an interview with MTV in 2006, Stone explained why she named the album "Introducing": "I feel like it's really my album – like, I made it. I decided who to work with, and what songs to put on there. I wrote the songs. This is what I want to hear when I hear my album." She continued: "This is the first album I did by myself, and I felt I had to prove myself with it. I think this is one of those albums that, when it ends, just leaves you wanting more."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Bands Named After Real People (Who Aren't In The Band)

Bands Named After Real People (Who Aren't In The Band)Song Writing

How a gym teacher, a janitor, and a junkie became part of some very famous band names.

Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets

Curt Kirkwood of Meat PuppetsSongwriter Interviews

The (Meat)puppetmaster takes us through songs like "Lake Of Fire" and "Backwater," and talks about performing with Kurt Cobain on MTV Unplugged.

Howard Jones

Howard JonesSongwriter Interviews

Howard explains his positive songwriting method and how uplifting songs can carry a deeper message.

Don Felder

Don FelderSongwriter Interviews

Don breaks down "Hotel California" and other songs he wrote as a member of the Eagles. Now we know where the "warm smell of colitas" came from.

Emilio Castillo from Tower of Power

Emilio Castillo from Tower of PowerSongwriter Interviews

Emilio talks about what it's like to write and perform with the Tower of Power horns, and why every struggling band should have a friend like Huey Lewis.

Michael Bolton

Michael BoltonSongwriter Interviews

Into the vaults for this talk with Bolton from the '80s when he was a focused on writing songs for other artists.