Song of the Day 1/13: The Ronettes, “Be My Baby”

For a brief time, Veronica “Ronnie” Bennett, who died yesterday at age 78, was the hottest girl-group singer in the world. Thanks to producer Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound treatment, “Be My Baby” hit No. 2 in 1963 and the Ronettes — Ronnie backed by her sister and her cousin — were, after several years in the business, suddenly stars.

The Ronettes toured with the Rolling Stones, who opened for them in 1964, and the Beatles in 1966 — Ronnie’s older sister, Estelle, dated both Keith Richards and George Harrison. Then, in 1968, Veronica married Phil Spector and, at what should have been the height of her career, she basically disappeared.

Phil Spector, who had been her svengali since meeting her in 1963, virtually imprisoned her in his California mansion. He recorded her singing albums’ worth of material that he then would refuse to release. By the time she divorced him in 1972, Ronnie Spector she was considered an oldies act, and the rest of career amounted to one long comeback.

With all that history, it’s hard to remember, or overstate, the effect “Be My Baby” had on popular music when it was released in 1963. Ronnie was the first rock ‘n’ roll girl singer to play up her sexuality, and the Jeff Barry-Ellie Greenwich song (Spector also received a credit, as many producers did back then) was her perfect vehicle.

Maybe the best way to measure its influence is by how wide its ripples spread. Brian Wilson called “Be My Baby” the perfect pop song, and in homage wrote what some, Brian included, call perhaps the Beach Boys’ finest record, “Don’t Worry Baby.” It certainly features one of Wilson’s best vocal performances. The song was released as the B-side to “I Get Around,” and charted separately at No. 24.

Eddie Money went even further with his 1986 No. 4 hit “Take Me Home Tonight.” Though he didn’t care for the song when he heard the demo, he liked the “be my little baby” hook.

Money recruited Martha Davis, lead vocalist of the Motels, to sing the part — the whole song sounds perfect for the Motels, actually — but she encouraged him to try to recruit Spector herself and Money was eventually able to speak on the phone to Spector at her home in northern California. He recounted, “I could hear clinking and clanking in the background…She said: ‘I’m doing the dishes, and I gotta change the kids’ bedding. I’m not really in the business anymore, Eddie. Phil Spector and all that, it was a nightmare’…I said “Ronnie, I got this song that’s truly amazing and it’s a tribute to you. It would be so great if you did it with me.”

The song spent weeks in heavy rotation on MTV and gave Spector’s career a boost that helped keep her recording and touring into her 70s.