My Baby Left Me

"My Baby Left Me" is a rhythm and blues song written by blues singer Arthur Crudup.

Original recording

It was first recorded by Crudup in Chicago on November 8, 1950, with Ransom Knowling on bass and Judge Riley on drums, and was released as a single on RCA Victor 22-0109.[1]

Later versions

It gained further exposure in covers by Elvis Presley, who placed his version on the B-side to his 1956 single "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You"; by Wanda Jackson who often shared the same bill as Elvis Presley; by Creedence Clearwater Revival, who recorded it as a track on their 1970 album, Cosmo's Factory; and by John Lennon (incorrectly titled "Since My Baby Left Me"), recorded during the Rock 'n' Roll sessions in 1973, but first released posthumously on Menlove Ave. in 1986. It was included as a bonus track (still incorrectly titled) on the 2004 CD version of Rock 'n' Roll. It was also a # 37 UK Singles Chart hit in 1964 for Dave Berry and the Cruisers. Elton John used a snippet of "My Baby Left Me" as part of a medley (along with a snippet of the Beatles' "Get Back") during his concert performance of "Burn Down the Mission" on his 11-17-70 live album.

Slade version

"My Baby Left Me"
Single by Slade
B-side O.H.M.S.
Released October 17, 1977
Format 7" Single
Recorded 1977
Genre Rock
Length 2:24
Label Barn Records
Writer(s) Arthur Crudup
Producer(s) Chas Chandler
Slade singles chronology
"Burning in the Heat of Love"
(1977)		 "My Baby Left Me"
(1977)		 "Give Us a Goal"
(1978)

"My Baby Left Me" was covered by rock band Slade and released as a single in 1977 as a tribute to Elvis Presley, who died in August of that year. The Slade version merged another Crudup written track, "That's All Right". The single spent four weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at #32. It became Slade's last charting single until their career revival in 1980. The single was rated #788 for 1977 on Rate Your Music.

In 1977, when "My Baby Left Me" was recorded, guitarist Dave Hill was busy doing interviews in the north of England, thus he was unavailable to record the lead guitar and backing vocals track for the single. Jim Lea stood in for him, and appears in Hill's place on the finished recording.[2][3] The track was performed on a handful of UK shows including Top of the Pops, as well as German shows Disco and Rund. It was performed the same year for a mimed gig on East German television and included interviews with each band member.[4] The music video features the band performing the song on a stage. It was voted the second of the top three Slade music videos in the Slade Fan Club Poll of 1979.

Record Mirror magazine reviewed the single upon release: "A Slade slug at a Crudup past. Real pleasant it is too. But I can remember a time when Slade records were vixen fearsome rather than pleasant. Fearsome on their own songs, not some cruising rocker from way back. Get out while the going's bad. 'Cos it's only going to get hideous."[5] Sounds magazine, in the issue released October 15, 1977, rated the single as the "Best Comeback Single", writing: "Fabulous treatment of this old Arthur Crudup number could easily see Slade back in the charts. It's a bouncy, struttin' 12-bar blues number quite unlike most of the band's earlier hit singles and it could just be the right thing to get them back into favour at the current time. On the other hand it could be that its remarkable similarity to the treatments of old blues numbers by a certain Johnny Winter Esq is clouding my judgement. We'll have to wait and see."[6]

Chart performance

Chart (1977) Peak
position		 Total
weeks
UK Singles Chart[7] 32 4

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Stefan Wirz, Illustrated Arthur Crudup Discography, Retrieved October 15, 2013
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ Slade International Fan Club newsletter June - July - August 1986
  4. ↑ "SLADE @ www.slayed.co.uk". Crazeeworld.plus.com. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved August 10, 2011.
  5. ↑ Record Mirror, 15 October 1977
  6. ↑ "1977 Press Cuttings". Slade Scrapbook. Retrieved August 15, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Official Charts/Artist/Slade". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 1, 2013.
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