According to experts, people have used baby as a term of endearment for their significant others at least since the late 1600s—long enough for most of us to not be creeped out by the practice of referring to other adults as we would infants. Of course, baby is not the only affectionate name lovers use—shout out to all those who answer to “Snookums,” “Sweet Thang,” “Boopsie,” and “Howler Monkey”—but in a pinch, it is likely to be deemed most popular.
Songwriters and performers have used baby as the preferred term of endearment in popular music for generations, and there have been some truly awesome songs built with, if not around, one or more mentions of the word. Here are our top 40 all-time “baby” tracks:
40. The White Stripes, “The Big Three Killed My Baby”
It’s the battle royale we witness every day—corporate behemoths vs. the powerless working stiffs—rendered as a distorted blues trying to pound its way out of your speaker cones. In this case, it’s the “Big Three” auto makers (Ford, Chrysler and GM) working the singer’s baby to death, for a pittance. The White Stripes would go on to make many more unholy rackets, but this one still feels special, not to mention relevant. Bonus points for rhyming “common sense” with “planned obsolescence.”
39. Mungo Jerry, “Baby Jump”
A horny, bluesy howler with artsy literary references (D.H. Lawrence, Vladimir Nabokov) and a copiously sideburned singer in Ray Dorset likely looking to scare comely women into sleeping with him (the “baby, baby, baby” refrain in the chorus is a bit disconcerting). And this from the guy who gave us the carefree warm-weather anthem “In the Summertime”—who’da thunk it?
38. Elvis Presley, “Baby Let’s Play House”
No one could hiccup “baby” quite like the King. Many have tried; all have failed.
37. J. Geils Band, “What’s Your Hurry?”
One of the great unsung debut albums in all of rockdom, the first J. Geils Band platter sounded 15 years old when it came out in 1970. “What’s Your Hurry?” (its chorus led off with three “baby”s) sounds like it could’ve been a Little Willie John cover, some mid-1950s Detroit jukebox favorite, but in reality, it was penned by Peter Wolf and Seth Justman, two East Coast kids who had mainlined such songs, welcomed them into their bloodstreams so they could plausibly recreate them onstage and on records.
36. Prince & the Revolution, “Baby I’m a Star”
…in which the genius of Minneapolis works to convince his “baby” that he’s not just good—he’s really good. It speaks to that genius and the full-to-bursting quality of the Purple Rain album that this barn burner was an album cut and B-side, never released as a single.
35. Ramones, “Havana Affair”
Imagine, as did Joey Ramone, that the CIA needed to infiltrate Cuba and hired as their guides four scruffy punks from Queens to show them around. And as these four scruffy punks from Queens showed the CIA around, they kept shouting a refrain, if not a rallying cry—“Baby, baby, make me loco! / Baby, baby make me mambo!” Can’t imagine Jack Ryan or Jason Bourne putting up with that for very long, but it might’ve made for a decent movie.
34. Father John Misty, “Real Love Baby”
The clown prince of existential alternative folk rock ponders the imponderable origins of love in this dour age and comes upon certain truths that only he seems to understand. “I’m the flower, you’re the bee,” he posits,“It’s much older than you and me.” You believe him though because he presents his thoughts so confidently. He has to know what he’s talking about—doesn’t he?
33. Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, “Bye Bye Baby (Baby Goodbye)”
England Dan and John Ford Coley once sang “It’s sad to belong to someone else when the right one comes along.” Ten or so years before that, the Jersey Boys shared a similar sentiment—it’s sad to be married to the love of your life when another love of your life appears out of nowhere. Valli does the right thing—saying “bye bye” to this new “baby”—but isn’t very happy about it.
32. Jackson Browne, “Somebody’s Baby”
We can’t hear this one without seeing Ridgemont Mall or following Jennifer Jason Leigh around as she and her classmates navigate the mores and vagaries of high school as the 1980s got underway. That such a sweet love song could come from the same imagination that yielded grim meditations like “For a Dancer,” “The Fuse,” and “Fountain of Sorrow” is surprising but nonetheless lovely.
31. No Doubt, “Hey Baby”
So apparently the guys in No Doubt liked to party with groupies on their tour bus after shows, particularly in the lounge in the rear of the vehicle (“All the boys get the girls in the back”) and Gwen Stefani—the female quarter of the group—liked to watch. The details are scant (no mention of congress with mud sharks or snacking on candy bars inserted in nether regions), but some funky stuff was indeed going on and it’s very likely Stefani has blackmail material on her troupe that goes on for days. Instead of using it though she was a good sport and put it in a dancehall track that peaked in the Top 5.
30. Doors, “Been Down So Long”
The “baby” moment in this one comes about halfway through in the third verse when Jim Morrison—in his very best Howlin’ Wolf voice—growls a plea to his woman to “get down on your knees.” Perhaps he’d dropped his keys or spilled a piece of a sandwich; he could be clumsy with such things. Regardless, he comes off as a man so desperate to hide his insecurities that he would bellow those directions at the object of his affection as if she were indeed merely an object. That’s a whole different kind of blues.
29. Cat Stevens, “Wild World”
Many have made bittersweet farewells to lovers but this farewell comes with a dollop or two of trepidation (“Ooh, baby, baby, it’s a wild world”) if not out-and-out condescension (“Don’t be a bad girl”, “I’ll always remember you like a child”). But this is Cat Stevens—uber-earnest of the uberest-earnestest ‘70s singer-songwriters—so he largely gets a pass if only because he sounds on the verge of tears throughout.
28. Jerry Butler, “I Dig You Baby”
Butler was in his mid-twenties when “I Dig You Baby” was a Top 10 R&B hit—right at that point in life when certain sentiments may seem laughable like “digging” a person getting “hung up on some new chick he meets” or saying aloud “The way you smile oh that’s outta sight.” Here though it doesn’t much matter; Butler’s smooth delivery makes up for most sins and one has to believe that his “baby” would be more likely to swoon than wonder whether she was being “dug” by a perpetual high schooler.
27. Ray Charles, “The Night Time is the Right Time”
Before there were such things as viral videos there was the Huxtable family lip-synching to Ray Charles’ version of this bluesy slow burner on The Cosby Show, complete with six-year-old Keshia Knight Pulliam miming Raelette Margie Hendrix’s screams of “Baby!” On the record these were cries of love—yearning pleading dare we say sinful. Coming out of a first grader though they were cute comedic even charming. Context is everything.
26. Dillard & Clark, “Why Not Your Baby”
This is a little-played wonder released as a single in 1968 by former Byrd Gene Clark and ex-Dillards banjo player Doug Dillard around the same time as their debut album as a duo. Think Poco Gram Parsons The Stone Poneys and yes The Byrds and you’ll have the right idea—country rock in its toddler years before The Eagles went supernova with prominent banjo and strings and harmonies to die for. Heartbreak set to music.
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