Songfacts®:

• Written by singer-songwriter Van McCoy, this song has a similar theme to the song "The Twelfth Of Never," telling of a love that will live on until the end of time.
  
  McCoy was contacted by Bert Berns, the Brill Building hitmaker who ended up producing the track, who was in search of songs for Lewis' third album. McCoy told Black Music in 1975:
  
  "I went and played him this demo I'd made of one of my songs called 'Baby, I'm Yours.' He listened to it and said, 'Yeah, that's a great song, and I really like the girls who are on that demo. We'll use them as background on Barbara's record.' So I said 'There weren't any girls... that was me!' So I ended up singing the background part. Barbara's record, that was on Atlantic, was my first million seller."
• Many other artists have covered this song over the years. A version by Peter & Gordon reached #19 in the UK in 1965; one by Jody Miller reached #91 in the US in 1971; one by Linda Lewis reached #33 in the UK in 1976; one by Debby Boone reached #74 in the US in 1978; and one by Cher (recorded for the 1990 film Mermaids) reached #89 in the UK in 1990. Additionally, other artists who have covered this song include Arctic Monkeys, Cilla Black, Petula Clark, the Paramounts, Billy Preston, Maureen McGovern (for her 1992 cover album of the same name), Tanya Tucker and Bobby Vinton. >>>

  Suggestion credit:
  Jerro - New Alexandria, PA, for above 2
• When Lewis heard the demo, she didn't like the song and was hoping she could have it thrown out if she gave a lackluster performance in the recording studio.
  
  "I didn't really put 100% into my vocal performance," she admitted in the liner notes of her 2012 compilation The Complete Atlantic Singles. But her manager, Ollie McLaughlin, who also served as a producer on the track, set her straight. "Ollie told me, 'Barbara, we're gonna have to go back to Detroit and dub you in. We gotta do your vocals over. You're just not giving like you should on the song,'" she continued. "We did several takes [in Detroit] and he was wondering, 'How am I going to get this girl to give? She's so hard-headed.' He said, 'You know, Barbara, Karen can sing that song better than you.' That was his little daughter. And it pissed me off. I did one more take, and that was the take that they selected."
  
  Lewis' opinion of the tune changed after it brought her success, going to #11 on the Hot 100 and #5 on the R&B chart. She added: "When it became a hit, you couldn't tell me that wasn't a good song. Of course it was!"
• Kendra Spotswood of The Shirelles also provided backing vocals along with McCoy.
• At the time of the single's release in 1965, McCoy was in the early days of his career as an R&B songwriter and arranger, penning tunes for Gladys Knight & The Pips and The Shirelles. He continued in that vein for the next decade, writing soulful ballads for other artists, but had his greatest success with his foray into disco in 1975 with his own hit single "The Hustle."
• In the 2017 Schitt's Creek episode "Grad Night," the Jazzagals sing this at a high school graduation ceremony. It was also used on The Wire in the 2008 episode "Transitions," and in these movies:
  
  Baby Driver (2017)
  Last Chance Harvey (2008)
  An American Crime (2007)
  Cheap (2005)
  The Other Sister (1999)
  The Bridges Of Madison County (1995)