Ronnie Spector was a member of one of many wonderful vocal ensembles of the 1960’s . “Girl groups” they were called, to indicate their status as something less than real. There were no “boy groups” only groups or bands and then - also - girls versions. They were pretty much always produced by guys. It was and remains a man’s field—production. So it wasn’t so much about the fact that the singers wanted to record a song, it was the fact that a particular producer wanted to record a song. He used voices. There was Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles, Martha and the Vandellas, the Supremes, the Ronettes, just to name a few. Some of these women went on to have fantastic success long after their girl group had disbanded. Personally, I think “Dancing in the Street” is an anthem above all others.
Ronnie Spector (“Be My Baby”) is the first singer in my collection. There is a truth to this performance that is sustained. In that simple text you realize that she conveyed the dignity of our teenaged loneliness. She pleads, she promises, she puts it all on the line. Of course it is the melody doing the real work here, making the simple so profound, but her voice seems to have its own emotional subtext. By the time the second chorus comes around, we are on your knees with her. I am not sure if songs give voice to our emotions or if it’s the other way around, but for sure “Be My Baby” has stood the test of time, lasted long after others had shriveled, grown wile in the heart of those who loved it back when they were 12, and kept it close for 50 or 60 years. It is there, preserved exactly as it was, in a place where song, never changes we never change, we never get old. I listened to “Be My Baby” and I am exactly as I was, feeling exactly what I felt in 1969, about to embark on the great journey of first romance.
But the real kicker in this song is not any of that! It is just an incidental pick up. Ronnie sings ‘huh oh, uh oh oh oh,’ and that’s the game. The wabbling vibrato…even the accent. This is the line that went out to become iconic. Somehow, in that little hiccup, entire cities were born, the skeletons of future icons and architects of rock music were formed—or began to form. A little sand in the pearl of creation. And she is there—in Bruce, and through him so many others. Oh, so many others. Innocent and noble. A woman of influence.
Under the Influence - Ronnie Spector