Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" is a Christmas holiday song originally sung by Darlene Love and included on the 1963 Christmas compilation album, A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records. The song was written by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry along with Phil Spector, with the intentions of being sung by Ronnie Spector of The Ronettes. According to Darlene Love, Ronnie Spector was not able to put as much emotion into the song as needed. Instead, Love was brought into the studio to record the song which became a big success over time and one of Love's signature tunes.

In December 2010, Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" first on its list of The Greatest Rock and Roll Christmas Songs, saying that "nobody can match Love's emotion and sheer vocal power."^[1]

In other media

Darlene Love performed the song every year since 1986 on the final new episode before Christmas of Late Night with David Letterman (NBC 1986-92) and the Late Show with David Letterman (CBS 1993–2014). One exception was 2007, when Love was unable to perform due to the Writers' Strike,^[2] with a repeat of her 2006 performance shown instead. She performed the song with Paul Shaffer and the show's house band (The World's Most Dangerous Band at NBC, the CBS Orchestra at CBS).^[3] The band had been augmented over the years by additional strings and other instruments, as well as a full choir. In 2000, the US Air Force Singing Sergeants were the choir. One of the highlights of the performances was the sax solo by band member Bruce Kapler, who would make his entrance in entertaining ways, including pulled in on Santa Claus' sleigh, "flying" from the rafters on wires, walking down the steps of the audience risers, and appearing in a giant snow globe. Love's final appearance on Letterman's show came on December 19, 2014, as Letterman announced his retirement from hosting The Late Show earlier in the year. The immense publicity for this final performance found Love's original version of the song on the Billboard music charts, peaking at #21 on Billboard's Holiday Digital Songs chart.

The song was also heard in several movies. It was used during the main titles for the film Gremlins. It also appeared in a memorable scene in the film GoodFellas, when some of the members of the crew foolishly spend money from the Lufthansa Heist on lavish items, thereby drawing unwanted attention. The song was also heard in the film Christmas with the Kranks when Blair Krank returns home.

On the December 17, 2011 holiday episode of Saturday Night Live, Jimmy Fallon sang a version of the song with lyrics reflecting upon his past experiences with the show.

"Johnny (Baby Please Come Home)"

During the 1963 recording sessions for "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)", Spector thought the track was strong enough to warrant a non-seasonal version, and cut a version titled "Johnny (Baby Please Come Home)" at the same time as "Christmas" (also performed by Darlene Love). This version of the song was first released to the public in January 1977 as the B-side of Love's single "Lord, if You're a Woman" (Phil Spector International catalog number 2010 019). "Johnny (Baby Please Come Home)" was also included on a 1997 European version of Love's 1992 compilation album The Best of Darlene Love (The Philles Recordings) (a.k.a. The Story of Darlene Love, and issued on Brussels' Marginal Records catalog number MAR 074).

Cover versions

"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" was not widely recognized after its initial release; however, it has since been covered many times by different artists over the years. The first cover was recorded by Quiet Jungle in 1968 for the LP The Story Of Snoopy's Christmas. The second and most widely known was recorded by U2 in July 1987 during a sound check at a stop during their Joshua Tree Tour in Glasgow, Scotland. Darlene Love provided backing vocals for U2, and the song was eventually released on the A Very Special Christmas compilation album in 1987, and later on the Unreleased & Rare album on The Complete U2 digital box set in 2004.

It is also covered by Joey Ramone appearing on his 2002 album, Christmas Spirit... In My House.

The rock band Anberlin covered the song for the compilation album Happy Christmas Vol. 4 in 1998. It would later appear on the B-sides album Lost Songs, which was released in 2007.

Mariah Carey covered the song as part of her 1994 album Merry Christmas. Due to strong sales of the digital single, the song peaked at No. 59 on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs chart in 2011, and has sold more than 200,000 copies.

Cher covered the song on the album A Rosie Christmas in 1999. The song was dance version that featured vocals by Rosie O'Donnell. O'Donnell's parts were given the Cher effect like in the song "Believe" using Auto-Tune.

In the 2012 Made For TV Film "The Mistle*tones" the song was covered by Tia Mowry & Jonathan Patrick Moore & The Mistle*tones

Charts positions for the Mariah Carey version

Personnel

Darlene Love version

• Lead vocals by Darlene Love
• Backing vocals by: Cher and The Blossoms (Fanita James, Darlene Love, Gracia Nitzsche, Edna Wright, and Carolyn Willis)
• Instrumentation by The Wrecking Crew:
  • Jack Nitzsche – arrangements, percussion
  • Steve Douglas – saxophone
  • Jay Migliori – saxophone
  • Hal Blaine – drums
  • Louis Blackburn – horns
  • Leon Russell – piano
  • Roy Caton – trumpet
  • Sonny Bono – percussion
  • Frank Capp – percussion
  • Ray Pohlman – bass
  • Irv Rubins – guitar
  • Barney Kessel – guitar
  • Bill Pitman – guitar
  • Tommy Tedesco – guitar
  • Nino Tempo – guitar
  • Johnny Vidor – strings
  • Larry Levine – engineer

References

External links

• Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) — Allmusic listing
• Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) — Reason To Rock critique
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics