Thursday, August 25, 2011

Comparing "Baby That's Me"

Today is the eleventh anniversary of Jack Nitzsche's passing.  While working on related posts for my Facebook page, I came across "Baby That's Me" by The Fashions, written by Jackie DeShannon and Jack Nitzsche, and released on the Cameo label in 1964.  As the YouTube uploader's comments explain, this release was quickly followed a few month's later by Lesley Gore's version.  Then, a bit later, by Britian's ultra-fine girl group, The Cake, who put out a magnifico version in 1967.  So, for your listening pleasure and convenience,  I've posted all three versions here accompanied by the notes supplied by the YouTube uploaders of each.




Fashions - BABY THAT'S ME (Jack Nitzsche) (1964)



Uploaded by  on Jul 22, 2010
NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED - (Cameo 331) Out of Los Angeles, this 1964 release doesn't give any producer or arranger credits but more than likely, co-writer JACK NITZSCHE probably was involved. This is the first version of the tune followed by Lesley Gore a few months later which Nitzsche is credited as arranger and lastly, The Cake and their 1967 version. Although The Cake's version was produced by Charlie Greene & Brian Stone and arranged by Harold Battiste (this trio worked with Sonny & Cher in the early days of their career), the SOUND of the record has Nitzsche's style all over it.


Lesley Gore - Baby That's Me (great!)


Uploaded by  on Aug 22, 2010
I think that The Cake's version is quite better, but "Baby That's Me" is still a classic in every way.


The Cake - Baby That's Me (One of the best 

girlgroup songs ever - written by Jackie)


Uploaded by  on May 12, 2010
I was so shocked the first time I listening to an album by an unknown girlgroup, called The Cake. The album started with three Spectoresque songs, but it was "Baby That's Me" that was by far the best of them.
And yes, Jackie wrote this magificent song, too!

1 comment:

  1. Okay...nice but a few corrections here. The song was penned by DeShannon and Nitzsche originally for the Chiffons to record and they passed on it (or their manager did, I'm not sure who was to blame). Anyway it was then given given to the folks at Cameo-Parkway for them to create a demo and they recorded the version with the Fashions (who knows exactly who they were, but there are some theories). The song was released without fanfare by them, but it was picked up by Quincy Jones for Leslie Gore who released it as a album cut. The song was not a hit. In 1967 it was dug out by Nitzsche and given to the New York unknown girl group The Cake who released it with little response. It became a cult classic years later when folks were looking for relatively obscure girl group records and found this obvious gem.

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