Baby, I Love Your Way by Peter Frampton

Album: Frampton (1975)

Charted: 43 12

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"Baby, I Love Your Way" is a very romantic love ballad where Peter Frampton is telling his girl that he loves everything about her and wants to be with her day and night. He was coy on the inspiration when he released the song in 1975, but she was later revealed to be Penny McCall, the woman he was living with.

Frampton and McCall met in 1972 when he was in the band Humble Pie and she was married to the group's road manager. They started dating soon after, and in 1973 they moved in together. Frampton was married but separated - his divorce didn't go through until 1976, so you can see why he wanted to keep this out of the press.

Frampton never married McCall, and after they broke up in 1978 after five years of living together, she filed a lawsuit claiming she was entitled to 50% of his earnings during their time together and also half the value of his estate. Frampton won the case, which set a legal precedent establishing that couples who live together but later split shouldn't be treated the same way as married couples who divorce.
Peter Frampton had a modest following in 1975 when he released this song as a single from his fourth solo album, Frampton. Neither the song nor the album did much to expand his fanbase, but the next year he included it on his live album, Frampton Comes Alive, which became the best-selling live album of all time (Eric Clapton, then Garth Brooks later claimed that title with their live albums).

The live version of "Show Me The Way" was released as a single and gave Frampton his first chart hit at #6. The live "Baby, I Love Your Way" was the next single from the album, and it went to #12. A third hit followed: "Do You Feel Like We Do" at #10.
Frampton wrote the song in the Bahamas on the same day he wrote "Show Me The Way." As explained in his memoir Do You Feel Like I Do, he headed to the island so he could concentrate on writing, but spent the first two weeks getting drunk with Alvin Lee. The last week he finally got some work done, writing "Show Me The Way" one morning while thinking about Penny, then in the afternoon wrote "Baby, I Love Your Way" while sitting under a palm tree. "I've been trying to work out which side of the bed I got out on that day ever since," he told Classic Rock magazine.
In 1988, the group Will To Power had a #1 hit in the US with a mellow medley of "Baby, I Love Your Way" and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird." That medley earned substantial royalties for Frampton and is still often heard in elevators and dentist offices.
The song appears in the 1994 movie Reality Bites, but Frampton's version isn't on the soundtrack. Instead there's a cover by Big Mountain, a California-based reggae group. Their version was released as a single and went to #6 in the US, higher than Frampton's original.
In The Office episode "Pam's Replacement," Andy, Darryl, and Kevin perform this outside the warehouse after being ousted from their own band. It was also used on the TV shows Cold Case ("Yo, Adrian" - 2005) and Friday Night Lights ("Tomorrow Blues" - 2009). Movies to use the song include:

Ricky Stanicky (2024)
May December (2023)
Halloween (2007)
The live version includes some electric piano played by Frampton's keyboard player, Bob Mayo. This version also stands out from the studio take because of the energy the crowd brings to the performance.
Because so many people owned the Frampton Comes Alive album, and because radio stations kept playing the song, "Baby, I Love Your Way" got on some people's nerves after a while. That's a plot point in the 2000 movie High Fidelity, where John Cusack's character hates the song until he hears Lisa Bonet sing it.

Comments: 21

Chipper from MississippiA fairytale romantic song with a real-life, not-so romantic ending. Frampton wrote the song for girlfriend Penny McCall. She eventually sued him for the royalties and he ended up getting a restraining order against her. I love these backstories.
Billy O from KyThe Keyboards on the live album made it a hit. Was it a Fender Rhodes?
Toughguy27Why do i feel like this song was used in "50 first date'
Grant from Harlow Just saw an interview with Peter Frampton on youtube. He mentions in it, that this song and 'Show me the way' arguably two of his biggest hits, were written on the same day, and both took 20 minutes to write. Wow....to me thats mindblowing....you could say a very productive day. Those two songs must have made him millions....by the way, watch some of his interviews, he comes across as a lovely guy, no big ego, like so many other rock stars.....
Greg from Durham, NcThe Big Mountain version was also used in two scenes of "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle".
Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn June 20th 1976, "Baby, I Love Your Way" by Peter Frampton entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #77; and on August 22nd it peaked at #12 (for 2 weeks) and spent 16 weeks on the Top 100...
Between 1976 and 1986 he had eight Top 100 records, three made the Top 10 with "I'm In You" being his biggest hit, it peaked at #2 for 3 weeks on July 24th, 1977 (the 3 weeks it was at #2, the #1 record those 3 weeks was "I Just Want To Be Your Everything" by Andy Gibb)...
Mr. Frampton celebrated his 64th birthday two months ago on April 22nd, 2014.
Camille from Toronto, OhAn ok song that, as an oldie, is overplayed on the radio these days, along with a few other Frampton hits. Why do stations only seem to have a set playlist of the same old tunes and neglect to play so many other great old songs?
Nick from Lafayette, InSlow ballads like this, imo, are much better than their hardrocking counterparts. Especially if you intend to make it "your song". My girl loves this song so I have to put it on when we are getting in the mood.
Jorge from Bronx, NyDo you feel,like i Do is my all time favorite,but of course,the woman in my life have love this one instead,lol
Ryan from Anahola, HiThis song was on Family Guy. Peter Frampton guest starred.
Fred from Seattle, WaThis was my parent's wedding song and I just love it. It always makes me smile.
Sara from Eckerty, InEvery car had Peter Frampton comming from it's speakers.
Danny from Your Town, IaGreat song to get a woman in the mood too. Light some candles, put this on and she's putty in yourhands. Great song in concert, but the LP version is awful compared to this. What an overall great album. He never compared to what he did on Frampton Comes Alive...no one has actually.
Thomas from Somerville, AlFrampton had the uncanny ability to take a medium to slow song and make it rock. I don't know how he did it but he did.
Simone from Los Angeles, CaWill To Power's version is not so good!! They misquote one of the most visually beautiful lines in the song. They say "Shadows grow so long before my eyes with the help of some fireflies..I wonder how they have the power to shine, shine, shine.." as opposed to "Moon appears to shine and light the sky" etc. etc. which makes a lot more sense! As long as they were redoing the song, they should have sung the correct words. Then, it may not have been so bad . Bottom line, why mess with PERFECTION!!!! Simone, Los Angeles, CA
Dave from Cardiff, WalesOn the Will To Power 1989 release "Baby I love Your Way/Freebird", I liked the female vocals that featured on the "Baby I Love Your Way" section, but the nasal male vocal on the "Freebird" section was downright irritating and I feel it spoiled what otherwise would've been a decent cover... Big Mountain's 1994 cover of "Baby I Love Your Way" was an OK cover as well
Sam from Leawood, KsNo, it wasn't. That's another Peter Frampton song but it sure as hell isn't "Baby, I love your way."

Another interesting thing to note is that this is often misrepresented as a Bob Marley song on Search engines and Peer-to-Peer software, since it has a reggae beat and Peter Framptons voice is similar to Marley's, to an extent.
Robert from Puyallup, WaWill To Power's version was less a medley and more of a blending of the two songs. It was done very well. The two different songs sound almost organic; almost as if they were meant to be together.
Aj from Cleveland, GaOne of my favorites of all time.
Connor from Whakatane, New ZealandThis song is really cool on the "Live" album
Aidan from Boston, MaThis was performed on the show "Family Guy" as a anniversary gift from Peter to Lois.

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