Hey! Baby by Bruce Channel

Album: Hey Baby (1962)

Charted: 2 1

License This Song

lyrics

Songfacts®:

Channel wrote this around 1959 with his friend Margaret Cobb. He had already been performing the tune for a couple of years before recording it amidst a series of demos for Fort Worth producer Major Bill Smith. First released locally on Smith's label, it was picked up for national distribution by Smash.
Delbert McClinton played the harmonica part. At one Channel's shows, he was supported by a then-unknown Liverpool group, the Beatles. John Lennon was so impressed with the harmonica intro that he asked McClinton how to play it. A year later a similar harmonica passage showed up on The Beatles "Love Me Do."
In 2001, 20-year-old Austrian producer/DJ Gerry Friedle, who performed under the name of DJ Otzi, recorded a Euro Dance version of this with added "ooh aahs." When he was a DJ he was always doing "ooh aahs" and he found the audience loved it. His version reached #1 in the UK, rising from #45 to replace Bob The Builder at the top, the highest ever leap to #1 in the UK. Otzi's initial goal in life was to be a farmer; a plan he was forced to abandon due to a fear of cows. He turned to music during chemotherapy for testicular cancer. He had 2 more UK top 10 hits, following up with his version of Manfred Mann's "Do Wah Diddy"(#9) and the following year a #10 hit with a remixed version of this to coincide with the 2002 soccer World Cup. By this time "Hey Baby" had become a song football supporters sang at matches. >>
Suggestion credit:
Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England
This was the first Hot 100 #1 with an exclamation point in its title.
Several country stars have covered the track, most notably Anne Murray, whose 1982 version topped the Canadian country chart and reached #7 in the US. Conway Twitty, Jerry Lee Lewis , Alabama and Lady Antebellum have also recorded their own interpretations, the latter for the 2017 ABC remake of Dirty Dancing.

Comments: 8

Sam Williams from Sherman Oaks CaThis is definitely the ultimate “ guy cold approaches a girl, guy gets rejected by the girl he cold approached” song. It’s hard to think of other songs with this particular lyrical theme. And it’s obvious that he has more of a sexual attraction towards her but he still wants to “maker her his”. He does come across as if he’s trying too hard and he sounds a little desperate in this song, but some 60’s songs are like that. But hey, millions of people bought this record in 1962 and it was a huge hit, so who am I to judge the creepy nature of this songs’s lyrics. I would say probably “Oh Pretty Woman” by Roy Orbison is another good example of another song with this particular theme, although that song does have a happy ending. This one doesn’t. Although Pretty Woman does have the same desperate/needy/creepy nature in terms of the song’s lyrics as this song does, but what can I say. These songs did come out in the 60’s. People probably weren’t reading that much into the songs’s lyrics when they bought these 45’s. And the millions of people who still love these songs today probably still don’t read that much into the songs’s lyrics. But hey, I like to overanalyze certain things so there’s that.
Rabbi Meyer from Central Wisconsin"Hey! Baby" has long been a staple of the Wisconsin marching band's Fifth Quarter set list, usually finding its way into the middle section. When you say Wis-con-sin, you've said it all!
Michael Little from Rockingham, NcDoes anyone know who plays the piano part in this song?
Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn June 21st 1962, Bruce Channel appeared in concert at the Tower Ballroom in New Brighton, England...
Just a little over eight weeks earlier on April 22nd, 1962 his "Hey! Baby" had peaked at #2 {for 1 week} on the United Kingdom's Singles chart; the week it was at #2, the #1 record for that week was "Wonderful Land" by the Shadows...
The opening act at the Tower Ballroom concert were the Beatles; and legend has it, that it was at this time that Channel's harmonicist, Delbert McClinton, gave John Lennon a few tips on how to play a harmonica...
* In the U.S.A. "Hey! Baby" had peaked at #1 {for 3 weeks} on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart on March 4th, 1962.
Rich from Portsmouth, NhAs a Baby Boomer, I _loved_ whenever this would come on the top 40 ! Such emotion in those first 2 words!
Wes from Fort Worth, Tx, TxThis song was recorded in Fort Worth at a small recording studio off West 7th street, just south of the trinity river bridge. Both of my parents were in the room. My dad, Donny Stevens, was the guitar player on this track. He was a member of The Straitjackets, of which Delbert McClinton was the singer and harmonica player. At the time they recorded it, they had no idea what a huge hit this was going to be and I'm not sure if anyone who originally recorded it was compensated when it was released on Smash records.
Richard from Andersonville, TnWhat happened to the rectangle near the top of each page that allowed the song to load and play?
Paige from Derry, NhThis was feautured in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing. The movie starred Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey.

see more comments

More Songfacts:

Candle In The WindElton John

Marilyn Monroe is the subject of Elton John's "Candle In The Wind," but the song is really a look at how we react to celebrities who die young.

Twilight ZoneGolden Earring

"Twilight Zone" by Golden Earring was inspired by the Robert Ludlum novel The Bourne Identity, not by the TV show.

Livin' La Vida LocaRicky Martin

"Livin' La Vida Loca" is a Latin pop landmark, but "la vida loca" are the only Spanish words in the lyric - "mocha" is English.

SummertimeDJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince

"Summertime" by DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince is built on a sample of a Kool & The Gang instrumental from 1974 called "Summer Madness," which gets a shout in the line, "This is the Fresh Prince's new definition of summer madness."