BE MY BABY


BE MY BABY

Be My Baby is a song that was preformed by the American girl group The Ronettes. This was the first Ronettes song that was produced by Phil Spector and released on his label, Philles Records. This song showcases Spector's "Wall of Sound" production technique and most importantly, this song opens the iconic 80's rom com Dirty Dancing.  

dirty-dancing-quotes-ftr

I JAM to the Dirty Dancing Movie Soundtrack. I have nothing against Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald. They were both revolutionary artists and I enjoyed writing blog posts about songs that they sang. However, when we listened to this song in class I couldn't help but think Finally we are listening to music that I actually like.

If you ever want to feel like you're living in an 80's rom com listen to Be My Baby and the rest of the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack. The lyrics to Be My Baby are fairly basic and in my opinion they don't really stand out among the hundreds of other 80's rom com bops.

So won't you, please

(Be my, be my baby)

Be my little baby?

(My one and only baby)

Say you'll be my darlin'

(Be my, be my baby)

Wha-oh-oh-oh

What makes Be My Baby stand out are the voices singing the song, not the lyrics. 
Even though the Ronettes look like the biker chicks in Teen Beach movie they all had really strong and unique voices, epically Ronnie Spector, the lead singer. 



The songs use of the "Wall of Sound" production technique also made this song stand out.
The "Wall of Sound" production technique is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector, where he layered multiple instruments and used echo effects. Both of these features were apparent when listening to Be My Baby, especially the use of echo effects.

In 1964 Spector explained why he created the "Wall of Sound" by saying "I was looking for a sound, a sound so strong that if the material was not the greatest, the sound would carry the record." In the case of Be My Baby I think that the "Wall of Sound" did exactly what Spector intended it too. 







Comments

  1. Sophia NelsonOctober 19, 2021 at 5:19 PM

    I had no idea that this was the opening song to Dirty Dancing! It totally fits the theme and I'm glad that we get to go over it! I agree with you that the Ronettes have unique voices and a timbre that stands out. I can also totally hear the wall of sound along with the singers, it's pretty prominent once I noticed it.

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  2. Dean RiceOctober 19, 2021 at 10:32 PM

    As soon as I heard this song I could picture that opening credit scene in Dirty Dancing! Dirty Dancing is one of my formative films, my favorite song from the soundtrack is Cry to Me by Solomon Burke. I like that you mentioned the look of The Ronettes, because I think this is the time in history just after the start of how an artist looks helps to sell.

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  3. Lewis POctober 20, 2021 at 12:14 PM

    This song is so iconic. I'm glad you mentioned the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, I think these Phil Spector songs really do work well in the movies too. I think of The Crystals song "Then He Kissed Me", which has a lot of the same "Spectorisms" as this song, and the scene from Goodfellas where they are walking through the restaurant. The whole "wall of sound" interacting with the sweet pop vocals makes for a fantastic musical wallpaper to whatever is going on visually in a movie.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ben PolishOctober 21, 2021 at 1:38 PM

    I agree that the "Wall of Sound" technique really helped propel the song. I love the parts where everything drops out for a second and then comes back full force. I also think the quartet style voices in the background really elevate it a well. Great analysis!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ben PolishOctober 21, 2021 at 1:48 PM

      Btw Hi Zoeeee! I did some HTML detective work to find your page instead of refreshing haha.

      Delete

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