I Got You Babe

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"I Got You Babe"
I got you babe by sonny and cher UK single side-A.png
Side A of the UK single
Single by Sonny & Cher
from the album Look at Us
B-side "It's Gonna Rain"
ReleasedJuly 9, 1965
RecordedJune 7, 1965
Studio Gold Star, Hollywood
Genre
Length3:11
Label Atco
Songwriter(s) Sonny Bono
Producer(s) Sonny Bono
Sonny & Cher singles chronology
"Baby Don't Go"
(1964)
"I Got You Babe"
(1965)
"The Letter"
(1965)

"I Got You Babe" is a song performed by American pop and entertainment duo Sonny & Cher and written by Sonny Bono. It was the first single taken from their debut studio album, Look at Us (1965). In August 1965, the single spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States [3] where it sold more than one million copies and was certified Gold. It also reached number one in the United Kingdom and Canada.

Contents

In 1968, R&B "The Matriarch of Blues" Etta James released a cover version, which peaked at number 69 on the Billboard single's charts for that year.

In 1985, a cover version of "I Got You Babe" by British reggae-pop band UB40 featuring American singer Chrissie Hynde peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart and reached number 28 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 1993, Cher re-recorded the song as a duet with American animated characters Beavis and Butt-Head; this peaked at number 35 in the UK and became a top 10 hit in the Netherlands.

Sonny & Cher version

Sonny & Cher, 1966 SonnyCher1966.jpg
Sonny & Cher, 1966

Background and composition

Sonny Bono, a songwriter and record producer for Phil Spector, wrote the lyrics and composed the music of the song for himself and his then-wife, Cher, late at night in their basement. When Cher was woken up to sing the lyrics, she hated the song, not thinking it would be a hit, and immediately went back to bed. [4] [5] "I Got You Babe" became the duo's biggest single, their signature song, and a defining recording of the early hippie countercultural movement.[ citation needed ] Billboard said of the song "using the successful combination of folk and rock, this one has the performance and production of a smash." [6] Record World called it "a meandering, funky piece of rock that will hit the top." [7]

AllMusic critic William Ruhlmann praised the song:

Recalling Dylan's bitter 1964 song "It Ain't Me Babe" (soon to be a folk-rock hit for the Turtles), Bono wrote his own opposite sentiment: "I Got You Babe." Where Dylan was lyrically complex, Bono was simple: His lyrics began with the ominous youth-versus-grownups theme of "they" who set up barriers to romance, but soon gave way to a dialogue of teenage romantic platitudes. Where Dylan was musically simple, however, Bono, without fully rebuilding Spector's Wall of Sound, was more structurally ambitious, following the song's standard verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-verse-chorus form with an ascending coda that built to a climax, then started building again before the fadeout, all in only a little over three minutes. Set to waltz time, the tune retained a light feel despite the sometimes busy instrumentation, led by a prominent ocarina [in fact an oboe – see below], and the alternating vocals of the two singers. If neither were interesting singers, their plodding, matter-of-fact performances gave the song a common-man appeal. [8]

The recording session for the song was held on June 7, 1965, at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood and lasted between 2 and 5 PM. [9] Harold Battiste provided the instrumental arrangement, and session musicians The Wrecking Crew performed the instrumental track. [10] [11] Richard Niles quotes Battiste as saying the prominent instrumental figure in the song is actually played on an oboe rather than an ocarina. [12]

In the United States, the song had sold more than 1 million copies in 1965, being certified Gold by the RIAA. As of November 2011, Billboard reported the digital sales of "I Got You Babe" to be 372,000 in the US. [13]

In 2011, the song was named as one of the greatest duets of all time by both Billboard and Rolling Stone magazines. [14] [15] It was also listed at #444 on Rolling Stone 's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004. But in a 2011 poll Rolling Stone readers ranked "I Got You Babe" the eighth-worst song of the 1960s. [16] In early 2017 the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. [17]

Live performances

Sonny and Cher last performed the song together during an impromptu reunion on NBC's Late Night with David Letterman on November 13, 1987. [18] [19] [20] Cher performed the song with R.E.M. on February 14, 2002, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. [21] It was her first performance of the song without Sonny, following his death in a skiing accident in 1998. [22] [23] During Cher's 2014 Dressed to Kill Tour and 2017–2020 Las Vegas residency Classic Cher using left behind vocals and a projection of videos of Sonny, Cher performed the song live with the projection of Sonny. The song is performed the same way during Cher's 2018–2020 Here We Go Again Tour.

Cher sang a parody version of the song called I Got You Bae with James Corden on The Late Late Show with James Corden in 2016. The parody explained finding love in the modern 2016 era of online dating, swiping, social media, Netflix and chill, and internet pornography. [24] [25] [26]

"I Got You Babe" has been frequently featured in film and television, including Sonny and Cher's own The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour . The song made a bit of a comeback when it was used repeatedly as Phil Connors's wake-up music in the 1993 movie Groundhog Day . On re-release, the single re-charted in the UK, reaching number 66. Other films have used the song, including Good Times which stars Sonny & Cher, Buster, The Muppets episode Pig Out, Look Who's Talking Too, Just Visiting, Me Without You, Riding in Cars with Boys, Jack and Jill and The Munsters . The TV show Monsters at Work adapted the song as "I Scare You Babe" for the end credits of the episode "Setting the Table" with altered lyrics to fit the series' world and characters. It was also used in an episode of Family Ties, when Steven starts singing the song and Alex joins in.

Personnel

The personnel, excluding Sonny & Cher, as seen in the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) contracts for the session include: [9]

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
New Zealand (RMNZ) [52]
digital
Gold15,000
United Kingdom
1965 release
500,000 [53]
United Kingdom (BPI) [54]
sales since 2004
Silver200,000
United States (RIAA) [55] Gold1,000,000^
Digital
United States372,000 [56]
Summaries
Worldwide3,000,000 [53]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

UB40 and Chrissie Hynde version

"I Got You Babe"
Ub40- Got You Babe cover.png
Green sleeve for US single
Single by UB40 and Chrissie Hynde
from the album Baggariddim
B-side "Theme from Labour of Love"
Released15 July 1985 (1985-07-15) [57]
Genre
Length3:09
Label DEP International
Songwriter(s) Sonny Bono
Producer(s) Pablo Falconer
UB40 singles chronology
"I'm Not Fooled So Easily"
(1984)
"I Got You Babe"
(1985)
"Don't Break My Heart"
(1985)
Chrissie Hynde singles chronology
"I Got You Babe"
(1985)
"Breakfast in Bed"
(1988)

Background

Twenty years later, in July 1985, British band UB40 with American singer Chrissie Hynde released a cover version of "I Got You Babe" for the group's sixth studio album, Baggariddim (1985). This version charted at number one on the UK Singles Chart and reached number 28 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song also appeared on the Pretenders' 1987 compilation album The Singles .

Track listings

  1. I Got You Babe 3:08
  2. UB40 – Theme From Labour Of Love 3:05
  1. I Got You Babe 3:09
  2. UB40 – Red Red Wine 5:21

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
New Zealand (RMNZ) [82] Gold10,000*
United Kingdom (BPI) [83] Gold500,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Cher with Beavis and Butt-Head version

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"I Got You Babe"
Cher with Beavis and Butt-Head-I Got You Babe.jpg
Single by Cher with Beavis and Butt-Head
from the album The Beavis and Butt-Head Experience
ReleasedDecember 1993
Genre
Length4:00
Label Geffen
Songwriter(s) Sonny Bono
Cher singles chronology
"Many Rivers to Cross"
(1993)
"I Got You Babe"
(1993)
"Love Can Build a Bridge"
(1995)
Music video
"I Got You Babe" on YouTube