Format 7-inch, cassette, CD Length 3:57 | Genre Pop, CCM Label A&M | |
Released January 18, 1991 (1991-01-18) Recorded 1989 /Spring 1990 at The Bennet House, Franklin, TN
Quad Studio, Nashville, TN | ||
"Baby Baby" is a pop song by American recording artist Amy Grant, issued as the first single from her album Heart in Motion. The song was written by Keith Thomas and Grant. It was released on January 18, 1991 through A&M Records and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two consecutive weeks in April 1991, becoming the first in a string of hits from Heart in Motion.
Contents
Background
The music was written by Keith Thomas. Grant always knew the song would be a smash hit, and was begging Thomas to sing the song. He agreed with the only condition that the song's title must be "Baby Baby". Grant had a hard time writing the lyrics, because her early attempts to write a romantic-sounding lyric to a song with such title came off sounding like "some overgrown football jock with no vocabulary trying desperately to be romantic". But one day, after having seen her six-week-old daughter Millie, she said to herself: "Oh, baby baby". As a result, the lyrics were written in about ten minutes in her kitchen. In the Heart in Motion booklet there are words: This song is dedicated to Millie, whose six-week-old face was my inspiration. Millie would also appear on stage during Grant's performance at the 34th Grammy Awards.
Composition
The song is almost four minutes in length and is composed in the key of F-sharp major, set in the time signature of 4/4 common time with a moderate tempo. In the middle of the song, the key is changed to G-sharp major, then for a short amount of time goes back to F-sharp major and finally ends with Ab major. Grant's vocal range spans from F2♯ to D4♯. The song consists of three different verses that are interrupted by a bridge Stop for a minute, baby I'm so glad you're mine. Lyrically, the song praises that special someone and expresses love that started since the day her heart was "put in motion". The chorus is the source of the album's title: And ever since the day you put my heart in motion, baby I realized that there's just no gettin' over you. It fades out with the lyrics:
Don't stop givin' love
Don't stop, no
(Baby I'm so glad)
Glad that you're mine
Baby I'm glad
Chart performance
"Baby Baby" was Amy Grant's biggest hit since her 1986 duet with Peter Cetera, "The Next Time I Fall". In the United States, "Baby Baby" became Grant's second number-one hit on the pop charts and her first as a solo artist, topping the Billboard Hot 100 (replacing Wilson Phillips' "You're in Love" from the top spot) and Adult Contemporary charts for two and three weeks, respectively. It also made Grant the first Christian pop singer to have a number-one single in the United States. The single reached the Top Ten in ten countries, in addition to reaching No. 11 in Switzerland. In the United Kingdom, "Baby Baby" was the singer's first (and only) Top Five hit in that country, reaching No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart. "Baby Baby" went on to become Grant's biggest hit single and one of the most successful singles of 1991.
Development and release
A music video was directed by D.J. Webster. The video was edited by Scott C. Wilson.
According to Webster, the video's main idea was to create a picture of the relationship that everybody wants. Grant added, "I think when you get film where there is a good sense of humor and mutual respect and people are just having a good time, everybody wants a piece of that". Its beginning features Grant receiving attention from other men, and her staying loyal to her lover, portrayed by model Jme Stein (who also appeared in her other video from that album "Good for Me"). At some point Stein is seen singing along with Grant and at the end lip-syncing to the words "Baby I'm so glad". The rest of the video is all about the couple having fun together.
Release and reception
The video first aired in March 1991, although MTV didn't air it until it was too popular not to. A music critic J.D. Considine praised the video, writing that "the Baby Baby clip defines the way most of us imagine her. It was hardly typical video fare, with no special effects or exotic locales; all it offered was Grant and a good-looking guy cavorting and acting cute as she lip-synced to the song. Yet there was something genuinely appealing about the image it conveyed, something that made viewers want to see the thing again". It received a nomination for Best Female Video at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards, but lost to Janet Jackson's "Love Will Never Do".
It's available on the 1992 VHS The Heart in Motion Video Collection and 2004 DVD Greatest Videos 1986-2004. A live performance is available on the 2006 DVD Time Again… Amy Grant Live.
Official versions
Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from Heart in Motion booklet.
Legacy
The song received three Grammy nominations for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year, but lost in all three categories to Bonnie Raitt's "Something to Talk About" and Natalie Cole's "Unforgettable", respectively.
Grant appeared on Monday Night Football in a promotional music video for "Baby Baby" that featured new lyrics custom-made for the night's game. "Baby Baby" was covered by The Swirling Eddies on the 1996 album Sacred Cows. It was covered by Alana D on the Mr. & Mrs. Smith soundtrack. It is also featured in the 2004 film Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. It was also briefly referenced in the 30 Rock episode "Queen of Jordan" where it was derided as "white nonsense". The song is referenced in Grant's 1997 Got Milk? ad. The song is heard in the Only Fools and Horses episode "Miami Twice" when Del Boy and Rodney arrive in the night club they go to in Miami.
Grant recorded an updated version of the song with pop artist Tori Kelly. Released on April 29, 2016, it commemorates the song's 25th anniversary.