Ronettes – "Be My Baby" (1963)

Since the day I saw you

I have been waiting for you

You know I will adore you

Till eternity

It’s February, and you loyal readers of 2 or 3 lines know what that means – it’s time once again for “29 Songs in 29 Days.”

You’re probably wondering what is the common element of the songs featured in this year’s February 2 or 3 lines posts.  I don’t think it will be that hard to figure out, but I’m going to keep the clues to a minimum until someone tells me what all my February songs have in common.  

Let’s not waste any more time playing games, but jump right into our first February song: the Ronettes’ 1963 hit, “Be My Baby.”

The Ronettes

“Be My Baby” was written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, the great husband-wife Brill Building songwriting team, and the legendary record producer Phil Spector.

A veritable hall of fame of studio musicians contributed to the record: drummer Hal Blaine, bass player Carol Kaye, keyboardist Leon Russell, and backup singers Cher, Sonny Bono, and Darlene Love.

“Be My Baby” was a particular favorite of Brian Wilson, who had this to say about the record:

I was in my car with my girlfriend and we were driving around . . . when all of a sudden this guy Wink Martindale – a disc jockey – he goes, "All right! Here we go with 'Be My Baby' by the Ronettes." It started playing . . . All of a sudden it got into this part – “be my, be my baby" – and I said "What is – what?! Whoa whoa!"  I pulled over to the side of the street of the curb and went, "My God! Wait a minute!  No way!"  I was flipping out.  I really did flip out.  Balls-out totally freaked out when I heard . . . In a way it wasn't like having your mind blown, it was like having your mind revamped. It's like, once you've heard that record, you're a fan forever.

Martin Scorsese with Robert DeNiro and
Harvey Keitel on the set of "Mean Streets" 

Martin Scorsese used “Be My Baby” in the opening credits of his first great movie, Mean Streets.   From Rolling Stone magazine:

This is where it all begins – and really, this is as far as it could go.  With this moment, director Martin Scorsese invented a whole new way to use rock & roll to tell a story, right in the opening scene of his Little Italy street-crime tragedy.  Late at night, small-time gangster Harvey Keitel hears the Phil Spector teen romance of "Be My Baby" playing in his head.  It's the soundtrack to his memories, all his dreams and fears, all his Catholic guilt, all his New York groove.  The song sums up his world in three minutes, except we can already tell it's about to explode. Every movie tries to do this same trick now, but nobody does it like Scorsese. After Mean Streets, neither music nor the movies would ever be the same.

Here’s “Be My Baby”:

Click below to buy the song from Amazon: