Hey! Baby

#71 / May 20 Podcast

A 1961 chart-topper written for teenagers by teenagers, it was a fixture on John Lennon’s personal jukebox and even inspired several early Beatles songs.

Bruce Channel was just 17 in Fort Worth, Texas, when he and his friend Margaret Cobb started creating songs. “We were just trying to write everything we could write,” Channel recalls, when they stumbled upon the hook that is still being shouted out loud nearly 60 years later:

“Heeeeeeeeey Baby!”

Two years after the kids penned their tune, Channel recorded it, first for a local Fort Worth label. After it hit, the song was released on Smash Records for national distribution, reaching number 1 on the Billboard charts.

The tune’s original version features a prominent riff from well-known harmonica player Delbert McClinton whose work there would be a major inspiration for some young Britons. A few years ago, Channel told Bart Herbison of Nashville Songwriters Association International the story of his 1962 tour of England.

“We played this one place and I'd been on the BBC and did an interview,” Channel said. “These guys showed up and there wasn't enough time for them to be on, and I apologized for taking up so much time.”

At one Channel's shows, he was supported by that then-unknown Liverpool group, The Beatles. “They didn't have any records yet and certainly had not written any of the songs that they did,” Channel recalls, “but everybody knew they were a good band and they already had a riff with the kids, and it was packed where they would play anyway.”

Nowadays, it is rock history that John Lennon was so impressed with the tune’s harmonica intro that he asked McClinton how to play it. A year later a similar harmonica passage showed up on The Beatles’ own “Love Me Do.”

Channel disliked touring, so he later settled down as a Nashville songwriter, scoring a number of songs in the 1970s and ’80. In 1987, “Hey! Baby” was featured in the popular movie “Dirty Dancing.” Channel later was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and today he continues to perform on cruises with other 1960s musicians.

Our Take on the Tune

We spent last night’s rehearsal polishing up the set list we’ll play at a very special event this weekend. We’ll be part of the wedding celebration tomorrow when Floodster Emeritus Michelle Lewis marries her beloved, Rich Hoge, near Cincinnati.

We’re invited to perform during the dinner tomorrow evening. Can’t wait. We intend to open the set with this wonderful old happy anthem to love. Click to hear our arrangement of “Hey! Baby.”