# How did "Baby" become the most popular word in pop music? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 11, 2011, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623 "2011-07-11T14:07:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/21 "2011-07-11T23:43:39Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Yeah, but I think the ubiquity of “baby” predates 1964. Jerry Lee Lewis’s “Kiss me baby” (from “Great Balls of Fire”) and Elvis’s “Since my baby left me” (from “Heartbreak Hotel”) spring to mind, not to mention “[Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everybody's_Trying_to_Be_My_Baby),” which the Beatles covered but was written and recorded much earlier. And _really_ not to mention [Everybody Loves My Baby (But My Baby Don’t Love Nobody But Me)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6UMs7tXyAA) from 1924, and [When My Baby Smiles at Me](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoZ5AF6B9qc) from 1920. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/22 "2011-07-12T01:03:10Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > Call it the “Lennon-McCartney Act of 1964”: all rock / pop songs shall henceforth be obliged to use the words “baby” and/or “yeah!” as often as possible in the lyrics. > > My WAG: “baby” just handily fits into the rhyme scheme of most pop music lyrics, which is most often written in a iambic quadrameter syllables, i.e. long-short/long-short/long-short/long-short. It fits right with the standard four beat pattern of most pop rock: ONE-two/TWO-two/THREE-two/FOUR-two. > > Try saying “dear” (one syllable) or “honey” (a word that stresses the second syllable more than the first) to a rock & roll beat. They just don’t fit. “…I’m so glad, she’s my little girl, She’s so glad she’s telling all the world…” -Lennon-McCartney, _She Loves You (yeah, yeah yeah)_ Could be worse, Chevalier seemed distinctly uncomfortable singing “Thank Heaven for Little Girls”. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/23 "2011-07-12T01:22:02Z")
Even before the Beatles there were tons of babys. All of those Phil Spector songs–Be My Baby, Baby I Love You, You Baby, Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), etc. ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/24 "2011-07-12T01:23:03Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Yeah, but I think the ubiquity of “baby” predates 1964. Jerry Lee Lewis’s “Kiss me baby” (from “Great Balls of Fire”) and Elvis’s “Since my baby left me” (from “Heartbreak Hotel”) spring to mind, not to mention “[Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everybody's_Trying_to_Be_My_Baby),” which the Beatles covered but was written and recorded much earlier. Be Bop A Lula predates the Beatles: Gene Vincent recorded it in 1956. > [@](#): > > Well, be-bop-a-lula, she’s my baby > Be-bop-a-lula, I don’t mean maybe… ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/25 "2011-07-12T01:29:39Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > “…I’m so glad, she’s my little girl, > She’s so glad she’s telling all the world…” > -Lennon-McCartney, _She Loves You (yeah, yeah yeah)_ Probably walking into a woosh, but that’s I Feel Fine, not She Loves You. More on topic to this thread, the first few lines are ‘Baby’s good to me, you know. She’s happy as can be, you know. She said so.’ ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/26 "2011-07-12T01:33:36Z")
> [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](#): > > Be Bop A Lula predates the Beatles: Gene Vincent recorded it in 1956. “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” was written in 1925. The first lines of Be Bop A Lula either rip it off or pay it tribute, not sure which. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/27 "2011-07-12T03:02:16Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > My WAG: “baby” just handily fits into the rhyme scheme of most pop music lyrics, which is most often written in a iambic quadrameter syllables, i.e. long-short/long-short/long-short/long-short. It fits right with the standard four beat pattern of most pop rock: ONE-two/TWO-two/THREE-two/FOUR-two. That’s _trochaic._ Iambic quadrameter would be a-ONE a-TWO a-THREE a-FOUR. > [@](#): > > Try saying “dear” (one syllable) or “honey” (a word that stresses the second syllable more than the first) to a rock & roll beat. They just don’t fit. “Honey” is in fact pronounced as a trochee in many instances. I would consider “huh-NEE” to be nonstandard, though at least few people would really think you were talking about bee food. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/28 "2011-07-12T04:36:24Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Probably walking into a woosh, but that’s I Feel Fine, not She Loves You. More on topic to this thread, the first few lines are ‘Baby’s good to me, you know. She’s happy as can be, you know. She said so.’ Doh!! Thanks. Yeah, just proves L-McC were following the general trend, not anywhere near setting it. And, oddly enough, now that I google the lyrics, there’s not a single “baby” in “She Loves You”; while “little girl” is used in “Twist and Shout” (a cover, IIRC), “Run for Your Life”, and of course “Hello Little Girl” and “Thank You Little Girl”. Can’t Buy Me Love, And I Love Her, Hard Days Night… all don’t say “baby” either. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/29 "2011-07-12T14:25:20Z")
Just a few that leap to mind: [Quote=Wikipedia] “Pretty Baby” is a song written by Tony Jackson during the Ragtime era. The song was remembered as being prominent in Jackson’s repertory before he left New Orleans in 1912, but was not published until 1916 “Everybody Loves My Baby”, also known as “Everybody Loves My Baby, but My Baby Don’t Love Nobody but Me”, is a popular and jazz standard song composed by Spencer Williams in 1924. Lyrics were written by Jack Palmer. “Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby” is a 1944 Louis Jordan song, released as the B-side of single with “G.I. Jive”. “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby” reached #1 on the US folk/country charts. The Louis Jordan recording also peaked at number two for three weeks on the pop chart and peaked at number three on the R&B charts. [/QUOTE] So its use has been around a LONG time! ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/30 "2011-07-12T16:54:11Z")
Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal. 1899. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/31 "2011-07-12T17:31:03Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal. 1899. Yeah, but that was a frog singing that, wasn’t it? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/32 "2011-07-12T21:33:29Z")
It became so popular because “inamorata” was too clumsy. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/33 "2011-07-12T21:38:52Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Yeah, but that was a frog singing that, wasn’t it? 😃 And it will be again. That’s the beauty of it. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/34 "2011-07-12T22:19:26Z")
“Baby! Baby!.. Why does he say this “baby”? The Führer has never said “baby”.” - Franz Liebkind ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/35 "2011-07-13T01:50:22Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby” was written in 1925. The first lines of Be Bop A Lula either rip it off or pay it tribute, not sure which. That’s the great thing about the Dope. I didn’t know the year that was written, and wasn’t trying to claim Gene Vincent had the earliest song with “Baby” in it, only that his song predated the Beatles. 😃 But when I hear “Yes Sir, That’s My Baby,” I automatically think of When Harry Met Sally and the Pictionary game. “Baby Fishmouth”! ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/36 "2011-07-14T22:53:59Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > 1. maybe it also expresses a man’s subconscious wish to keep his girlfriend helpless and totally dependent on him instead of being a strong woman and his equal. So that’s why my girlfriend calls me baby. I knew there was something sinister behind it. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/37 "2011-07-14T22:59:30Z")
Baby isn’t just reserved for lovers. People frequently refer to a prized possession as “My baby.” People might say, “This Corvette is my baby,” or “I’ve been working on this project for three years; it’s my baby.” ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/38 "2011-07-15T00:30:24Z")
Concur with **SecretaryofEvil**. Sometimes a metaphor is just a metaphor. ---
**Author:** ![Clearpupil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Clearpupil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clearpupil)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/39 "2012-01-24T02:19:48Z")
Origin in pop is in Arabic music which uses “beeby” imported via slavery to the USA meaning ‘my beloved’ -\> blues -\> rock -\> pop. No change since. Actually the word baby entered English in 14c. from Spanish ‘bebe’ also from Arabic ‘beeby’ lyrical form for ‘my beloved’. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/40 "2012-01-24T02:46:25Z")
> [@Clearpupil](#): > > Origin in pop is in Arabic music which uses “beeby” imported via slavery to the USA meaning ‘my beloved’ -\> blues -\> rock -\> pop. No change since. Actually the word baby entered English in 14c. from Spanish ‘bebe’ also from Arabic ‘beeby’ lyrical form for ‘my beloved’. 🆒 [Unlikely](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=baby&searchmode=none). > [@](#): > > baby (n.) > late 14c., babi, dim. of baban (see babe + -y (3)). Meaning “childish adult person” is from c.1600. Meaning “youngest of a group” is from 1897. As a term of endearment for one’s lover it is attested perhaps as early as 1839, certainly by 1901; its popularity perhaps boosted by baby vamp “a popular girl,” student slang from c.1922. As an adjective, by 1750. Baby food is from 1833. Baby blues for “blue eyes” recorded by 1892 (the phrase also was used for “postpartum depression” 1950s-60s). To empty the baby out with the bath (water) is first recorded 1909 in G.B. Shaw (cf. Ger. das Kind mit dem Bade ausschütten). Baby’s breath (noted for sweet smell, which also was supposed to attract cats) as a type of flower is from 1897. French bébé (19c.) is from English. > > babe > late 14c., short for baban (early 13c.), which probably is imitative of baby talk (cf. babble), however in many languages the cognate word means “old woman” (cf. Rus. babushka “grandmother,” from baba “peasant woman”). > > ``` > Crist crid in cradil, "moder, baba!" [John Audelay, c.1426] > > Now mostly superseded by its dim. form baby. Used figuratively for "a childish person" from 1520s. Meaning "attractive young woman" is 1915, college slang. Babe in the woods is from 1795. > > ``` [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623.md?page=3)