Ronnie Spector

Ronnie Spector RIP. A genuine legend, the led singer of The Ronettes with that voice, tough and with a street edge but with a softness too and capable of taking you by surprise. There aren't many records that can compete with Be My Baby, a song that is one of the foundation stones of rock 'n' roll/ pop music, a song that raises the hairs on the back of your neck from the moment that kick drum and snare thump into earshot. I've said it before when I posted Be My Baby back in 2014 but you can put it on any playlist, any compilation tape or CD with any other song either side of it and it works. 

Be My Baby

As a bonus here's the vocals from Baby I Love You, on their own. 

Baby I Love You (Isolated Vocals)

I have a real soft spot for The Ramones cover of Baby I Love You from their 1980 album End Of The Century, a record I used to play to close sets back when I did that kind of thing. The Ramones hated it, all refusing to play on it except Joey who was forced to sing on it by Phil Spector, allegedly at gunpoint. Joey loathed the song saying it didn't sound anything like The Ramones but I love it despite it all. 

Baby I Love You 

Ronnie survived her brief marriage to Phil, a marriage that was abusive and controlling on every level. She fled Phil's mansion in 1972, barefoot and without a penny to her name, fearing for her life. Ronnie was further tormented by Phil in the years following their marriage and then divorce as her tried to prevent her recording, singing and receiving any royalties until the late 90s when he was ordered to pay her over $1 million in royalties. She stuck it all out, outdid him (eventually) and outlived him. 

RIP Ronnie Spector. 

Hal Blaine

I'm sure other people's blogs will mark the death of drummer Hal Blaine at the age of 90 as well as this one. Hal Blaine was one of the most recorded drummers in history, a man who played on over 6000 singles and 40 number one singles including those by The Byrds, Simon and Garfunkel, The Carpenters, The Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, The Mamas And The Papas and The Supremes. He covered for Dennis Wilson on Pet Sounds. But the bottom line is he's the man who did the intro on this...

Be My Baby

The result of a dropped drumstick apparently, a mistake that became one of rock 'n' roll's most instantly identifiable sounds, amplified by Phil Spector's production. The boom-ba-boom-crash sound was borrowed by, to name but two, The Jesus And Mary Chain...

Just Like Honey

And Johnny Boy...

You Are The Generation Who Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve

Coincidentally some of us were discussing the Johnny boy song on Twitter on Sunday night and I discovered that there's a Don Letts directed video for the song I'd never seen before. It's here.

Hal Blaine R.I.P.

Sleigh Bells

I've pretty much avoided Christmas this year on here, no seasonal songs at all, so I'll try to enter into the spirit of things by posting these two today (and giving the Monday Long Song a rest for a week or two). Low's Just Like Christmas is a thing of beauty, a song I've posted several times before but which is always welcome. The sleigh bells and the sleigh ride rhythm are are joy, as are the lyrics- the band in the van travelling from Stockholm to Oslo seeing the snow fall.

Just Like Christmas

Sleigh bells ringing are the opening to Darlene Love's Winter Winterland, one of the songs on A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector album from 1963. If you have to listen to an album of Christmas songs, it should really be this one (although I'll make a shout for Wild Billy Childish's Christmas 1979, the title track of which I've also posted before).

Winter Wonderland

And if you need something longer Steve Cobby has put together this mix, just over an hour of lesser known festive songs from the crooners and shakers including Dinah Washington, Dean Martin, Julie London and Nancy Wilson.



Whatever you're up to, wherever you are and whoever you're with, have a happy Christmas. Peace and love and all that.

Why Don't They Let Us Fall In Love

I've been listening to the girl groups recently- thanks to Drew mainly- and The Ronettes especially, so I thought there could be no better way to bring the working week to close than with some Wall of Sound magic from 1963. Why Don't They Let Us Fall In Love was (I think) the first song Phil Spector recorded with the girls, though not the first released. That was Be My Baby. It's got everything  a Ronettes song should have. Boom tish boom Spector production, layers and layers of echo and instruments and a horn section that spins heads. Meanwhile Ronnie and co sing about how their parents won't let them go steady. Perfection.

Why Don't They Let Us Fall In Love

Be My Baby

Be My Baby is, quite clearly, an utterly fantastic pop record derived from the imagination of Phil Spector and the combined voices and attitudes of The Ronettes. It has one of the form's definitive drum beats (which it is impossible to get tired of).

It is also- and this is a fact- a song that can be put on any mixtape/compilation cd, before or after any other song by anybody, and still work perfectly. Try it.

Be My Baby

This Is The Way I Always Dreamed It Would Be

1966, The Ronettes, with Phil Spector co-writing and producing. That's about it for words today. I've been partying/wedding attending/family gathering hosting since Friday night and feel a little bit out of sorts.

I Can Hear Music