Smiths – "Baby It's You" (1969)

Is it true what they say about you?

They say you'll never, ever, ever be true

I was shocked when I learned today that Burt Bacharach wrote the music for “Baby It’s You.”  To me, it sounds nothing like a Burt Bacharach song.

“Baby It’s You” was a top ten hit for the Shirelles in 1961.  The Beatles covered it a couple of years later.

The Shirelles and Beatles records sound quite a bit alike.  Smith’s cover – which hit #5 on the Billboard “Hot 100” in 1969 – is something else altogether.

Whoever did the arranging for the Smith record did a very good job.  But what makes the record extraordinary is the singing of Gayle McCormick.

Gayle McCormick

Gayle McCormick was a stick of dynamite on that record, pure and simple.  She held nothing back.

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Smith didn’t last long after the success of “Baby It’s You.”  After the group broke up, McCormick recorded three solo albums, none of which sold particularly well.

What happened to her after that?  According to one old friend, “Gayle lost interest in the music business, married a carpenter and moved to Hawaii.”  I’m not sure how long the marriage lasted, but I do know that McCormick eventually returned to St. Louis area, where she had grown up.

She never attempted a comeback, and seems to have become something of a recluse, reluctant to be interviewed about her musical career.

I heard at some point that she was working as a cashier at a St. Louis department store, but haven’t been able to verify that.

What I do know is that she contracted cancer and died on March 1, 2016.  She was 67.

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Click here to listen to the Shirelles’ original recording of “Baby It’s You.”

Click here to listen to Smith’s astonishing cover of that record – the newest inductee into the 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” COVER RECORDS HALL OF FAME – which features Gayle McCormick’s let-it-all-hang-out lead vocals.   

Click here to buy the record from Amazon.