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Baby, Please Don't Go

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"Baby, Please Don't Go"
Single by Joe Williams' Washboard Blues Singers
B-side "Wild Cow Blues"
Released 1935 (1935)
Format 10-inch 78 rpm record
Recorded Chicago, October 31, 1935
Genre Blues
Length 3:22
Label Bluebird (B–6200)
Producer(s) Lester Melrose

"Baby, Please Don't Go" is a blues song which has been called "one of the most played, arranged, and rearranged pieces in blues history" by music historian Gerard Herzhaft.[1] It was likely an adaptation of "Long John", an old folk theme dating back to slavery in the United States. Delta blues musician Big Joe Williams popularized it with several versions beginning in 1935. The song's roots have been traced back to nineteenth-century American songs which deal with themes of bondage and imprisonment. "Baby, Please Don't Go" became an early blues standard with recordings by several blues musicians, such as Papa Charlie McCoy, Leonard "Baby Doo" Caston, Lightnin' Hopkins, John Lee Hooker and Big Bill Broonzy.

After World War II, Chicago blues and rhythm and blues artists adapted the song to newer music styles. In 1952, a doo-wop version by the Orioles reached the top ten on the race records chart. In 1953, Muddy Waters recorded the song as an electric Chicago-ensemble blues piece, which influenced many subsequent renditions.

In the 1960s, "Baby, Please Don't Go" became a popular rock song after the Northern Irish group Them recorded it in 1964. Several music writers have identified Jimmy Page, a studio guitarist at the time, as participating in the recording, although his exact contributions are unclear. Subsequently, Them's uptempo rock arrangement has become a rock standard. "Baby, Please Don't Go" has been inducted into both the Blues and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame.

Background

"Baby, Please Don't Go" is likely an adaptation of "Long John", an old folk theme which dates back to the time of slavery in the United States.[1] It is also related to a group of early twentieth-century blues songs that include "I'm Alabama Bound", "Elder Green Blues", "Another Man Done Gone", "Don't Leave Me Here" and "Turn Your Lamp Down Low".[2][3] These songs have been traced back to late nineteenth-century work songs. Author Linda Dahl suggests a connection to a song with the same title by Mary Williams Johnson in the late 1920s and early 1930s.[4] However, Johnson, who was married to jazz-influenced blues guitarist Lonnie Johnson, never recorded it and her song is not discussed as influencing later performers.[1][3][5] Blues researcher Jim O'Neal notes that Williams "sometimes said that the song was written by his wife, singer Bessie Mae Smith (aka Blue Belle and St. Louis Bessie) [not the same as the popular Bessie Smith of the 1920s and 1930s]".[3]

Original song

Big Joe Williams used the theme for his October 31, 1935, recording of "Baby, Please Don't Go" during his first session for Lester Melrose and Bluebird Records in Chicago .[3] It is an ensemble piece with Williams on vocal and guitar accompanied by Dad Tracy on one-string fiddle and Chasey "Kokomo" Collins on washboard, who are listed as "Joe Williams' Washboard Blues Singers" on the single.[3] Musical notation for the song indicates a moderate-tempo fifteen-bar blues in 4
4 or common time in the key of B♭.[6][lower-alpha 1] As with many Delta blues songs of the era, it remains on the tonic chord (I) throughout without the progression to the subdominant (IV) or dominant (V) chords.[6] The lyrics express a prisoner's anxiety about his lover leaving before he returns home:[8]

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Now baby please don't go, now baby please don't go
Baby please don't go back to New Orleans, and get your cold ice cream
I believe there's a man done gone, I believe there's a man done gone
I believe there's a man done gone to the county farm, with a long chain on

File:Big Joe Williams, American Folk Blues Festival, Hamburg 1972 (Heinrich Klaffs Collection 49).jpg
Big Joe Williams at the American Folk Blues Festival in 1972

The song became a hit and established Williams' recording career.[9] On December 12, 1941, he recorded a second version titled "Please Don't Go" in Chicago for Bluebird, with a more modern arrangement and lyrics.[10] Blues historian Gerard Herzhaft calls it "the most exciting version",[1] which Williams recorded using his trademark nine-string guitar. Accompanying him are Sonny Boy Williamson I on harmonica and Alfred Elkins on imitation bass (possibly a washtub bass).[11] Since both songs appeared before recording industry publications began tracking such releases, it is unknown which version was more popular. In 1947, he recorded it for Columbia Records with Williamson and Ransom Knowling on bass and Judge Riley on drums. This version did not reach the Billboard Race Records chart,[12] but represents a move toward a more urban blues treatment of the song.

Later blues and R&B recordings

Due to the popularity of the 1935 release of Big Joe Williams "Baby, Please Don't Go", other blues musicians began recording their interpretations of the song[13] and it soon became a blues standard.[1] Early examples include Papa Charlie McCoy as "Tampa Kid" (1936), Leonard "Baby Doo" Caston (1939), Lightnin' Hopkins (1947), John Lee Hooker (1949) and Big Bill Broonzy (1952). By the early 1950s, the song was reworked in contemporary musical styles, with an early rhythm and blues/jump blues version by Billy Wright (1951),[1] a harmonized doo-wop version by the Orioles (a number eight R&B hit in 1952),[lower-alpha 2] and a Afro-Cuban-influenced rendition by Rose Mitchell (1954).[1]

In 1953, Muddy Waters recast the song as a Chicago-blues ensemble piece with Little Walter and Jimmy Rogers.[14] Waters regularly performed "Baby, Please Don't Go" and made several live recordings. Live versions appear on Muddy Waters at Newport 1960 and on Live at the Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago 1981 with members of the Rolling Stones.[15] AllMusic critic Bill Janovitz cites the influence of Waters' adaptation:

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The most likely link between the Williams recordings and all the rock covers that came in the 1960s and 1970s would be the Muddy Waters 1953 Chess side, which retains the same swinging phrasing as the Williams takes, but the session musicians beef it up with a steady driving rhythm section, electrified instruments and Little Walter Jacobs wailing on blues harp.[16]

Van Morrison and Them rendition

"Baby, Please Don't Go"
Single by Them
B-side "Gloria"
Released November 6, 1964 (1964-11-06) (UK)
Format 7-inch 45 rpm record
Recorded October 1964
Genre Blues rock, garage rock
Length 2:38
Label Decca (F.12018)
Producer(s) Bert Burns

Background

"Baby Please Don't Go" was one of the earliest songs recorded by the Northern Irish band Them, fronted by a 19-year-old Van Morrison. Their rendition of the song was derived from a John Lee Hooker version he recorded in 1949 as "Don't Go Baby" using the pseudonym "Texas Slim" (King 4334).[17] Hooker's song appeared on a 1959 album titled Highway of Blues (using the correct names), which Van Morrison had acquired. Morrison later explained

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'Baby Please Don't Go' was on it and several other songs like 'Devil's Stomp' and all this slow stuff. 'Baby Please Don't Go' was the only fast number on it. It struck me as being something really unique and different, with a lot of soul. More soul than I'd heard from any previous records.[17]

Recording and composition

Them recorded "Baby, Please Don't Go" for Decca Records in October 1964. Besides Morrison, there is conflicting information about who participated in the session. In addition to the group's original members (guitarist Billy Harrison, bassist Alan Henderson, drummer Ronnie Millings, and keyboard player Eric Wrixon), others have been suggested: Pat McAuleyon on keyboards, Bobby Graham on a second drum kit, Jimmy Page on second guitar,[18] and Peter Bardens on keyboards.[19] As Page biographer George Case notes, "There is a dispute over whether it is Page's piercing blues line that defines the song, if he only played a run Harrison had already devised, or if Page only backed up Harrison himself".[20]

Morrison has acknowledged Page's participation in the early sessions: "He played rhythm guitar on one thing and doubled a bass riff on the other"[21] and Morrison biographer Johnny Rogan notes that Page "doubled the distinctive riff already worked out by Billy Harrison".[21] Music critic Greil Marcus comments that during the song's quieter middle passage "the guitarist, session player Jimmy Page or not, seems to be feeling his way into another song, flipping half-riffs, high, random, distracted metal shavings".[2][lower-alpha 3] Them's blues-rock arrangement is "now regarded justly as definitive", with "much of its appeal emanat[ing] from the tingling lead guitar section", according to music writer Adam Clayson.[23]

Releases and charts

"Baby, Please Don't Go" was released as Them's second single on November 6, 1964.[18] With the B-side, "Gloria", it became their first hit, reaching number ten on the UK Singles Chart.[24] The single was released in the U.S. in 1965, but only "Gloria" became a hit the following year.[25] The song was not included on Them's original British or American albums (The Angry Young Them and Them Again), however, it has appeared on several compilation albums, such as The Story of Them Featuring Van Morrison and The Best of Van Morrison.[26] When it was reissued in 1991 as a single in the UK (London LON 292), it reached number 65 in the chart.[24] Van Morrison also accompanied John Lee Hooker during a 1992 performance, where Hooker sings and plays "Baby, Please Don't Go" on guitar while sitting on a dock, with harmonica backing by Morrison; it was released on the 2004 Come See About Me Hooker DVD.[27]

AC/DC version

Angus Young and Bon Scott at the Ulster Hall in August 1979

"Baby, Please Don't Go" was a feature of AC/DC's live shows since their beginning.[28] Although they have expressed their interest and inspiration in early blues songs,[29] music writer Mick Wall identifies Them's adaptation of the song as the likely source.[30] In November 1974, Angus Young, Malcolm Young, and Bon Scott recorded it for their 1975 Australian debut album, High Voltage.[29] Tony Currenti is sometimes identified as the drummer for the song, although he suggests that it had been already recorded by Peter Clack.[31] Wall notes that producer George Young played bass for most of the album,[30] although Rob Bailey claims that many of the album's tracks were recorded with him.[32]

High Voltage and a single with "Baby, Please Don't Go" were released simultaneously in Australia in February 1975.[32][lower-alpha 4] AllMusic critic Eduardo Rivadavia called the song "positively explosive".[33] Albert Productions issued it the single's B-side, however, the A-side was largely ignored and "Baby, Please Don't Go" began receiving airplay.[30] The single entered the chart at the end of March 1975[34] and peaked at number 10 in April.[35] Also in April 1975, one month after drummer Phil Rudd and bassist Mark Evans joined AC/DC, the group performed the song for the Australian music program Countdown.[36] [16] For their appearance, "Angus wore his trade mark schoolboy uniform while Scott took the stage wearing a wig of blonde braids, a dress, make-up, and earrings", according to author Heather Miller.[36] Joe Bonomo describes Scott as "a demented Pippi Longstocking" and Perkins notes his "tattoos and a disturbingly short skirt."[29] Evans describes the reaction:

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As soon as his vocals are about to begin he comes out from behind the drums dressed as a schoolgirl. And it was like a bomb went off in the joint; it was pandemonium, everybody broke out in laughter. [Scott] had a wonderful sense of humor.[36]

Scott mugs for the camera and, during the guitar solo/vocal improvization section, he lights a cigarette as he duels with Angus with a green mallet.[16] Rudd laughs throughout the performance.[16] Although "Baby, Please Don't Go" was a popular part of AC/DC's performances (often as the closing number), the song was not released internationally until their 1984 compilation EP '74 Jailbreak.[29] The video from the Countdown show is included on the Family Jewels DVD compilation in 2005.

Recordings by other artists

Aerosmith recorded "Baby, Please Don't Go" for their blues cover album, Honkin' on Bobo, which was released on March 30, 2004.[37] The album was produced by Jack Douglas, who had worked on the group's earlier albums, and reflects a return to their hard rock roots.[37] Billboard magazine describes the song as "the kind of straight-ahead, hard-driving track that always typified the band's [1970s] records".[38] Edna Gundersen of USA Today called their version a "terrific revival."[39] It was the first single to be released from the album and reached number seven on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.[40] A music video, directed by Mark Haefeli, was produced to promote the single.[41] Subsequently, the song has become a staple of the band's concert repertoire.[42][43]

Paul Revere & the Raiders covered the song for their 1966 studio album Just Like Us!.[44] In 1968, the Amboy Dukes' rendition of "Baby, Please Don't Go" reached number 106 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles record chart.[45] Welsh band Budgie recorded it for their Never Turn Your Back on a Friend album in 1973.[46]

Recognition and legacy

Big Joe Williams' "Baby, Please Don't Go" is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame list of "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll".[47] In 1992, it was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in the "Classics of Blues Recordings" category.[3] The Foundation noted that, in addition to various blues recordings, "the song was revived in revved-up fashion by rock bands in the '60s such as Them, the Amboy Dukes, and Ten Years After".[3]

Notes

Footnotes

  1. ↑ The sheet music includes a 1944 copyright date, indicating a later version of the song[7] (Williams' 1935 recording is in the key of B).
  2. ↑ Music historian Larry Birbaum suggested that the Orioles' 1951 version inspired James Brown's first hit "Please, Please, Please" (1956).[5]
  3. ↑ Beginning about 1:22 in Them's recording, bassy-sounding riffs appear.[22]
  4. ↑ The Albert Productions AC/DC single misidentified the songwriter as Big Bill Broonzy.[32]

Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Herzhaft 1992, p. 437.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Marcus 2010, eBook.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Dahl 1984, p. 110.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Birnbaum 2012, p. 302.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Hal Leonard 1995, pp. 90–91.
  7. ↑ Hal Leonard 1995, p. 17.
  8. ↑ Gioia 2008, p. 130.
  9. ↑ Herzhaft 1992, p. 381.
  10. ↑ Demetre 1994, p. 23.
  11. ↑ Demetre 1994, p. 29.
  12. ↑ Whitburn 1988, pp. 444–445.
  13. ↑ Escott 2002, p. 54.
  14. ↑ Palmer 1989, p. 28.
  15. ↑ Gordon 2002, p. 266.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Bonomo 2010, eBook.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Murray 2002, pp. 212, 302.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Thompson 2008, p. 303.
  19. ↑ Strong 2002, eBook.
  20. ↑ Case 2007, p. 35.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Rogan 2006, pp. 101, 111.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Clayson 2006, p. 61.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Walker 2011, p. 135.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 Perkins 2011, eBook.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 Wall 2013, eBook.
  31. ↑ Fink 2014, p. 83.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 32.2 Walker 2011, p. 139.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Walker 2011, p. 145.
  35. ↑ Walker 2011, p. 148.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 Miller 2009, eBook.
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Billboard 2004, pp. 13, 15.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

References

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