Darlin' Be Home Soon

"Darlin' Be Home Soon" (or "Darling Be Home Soon") is a song written by John Sebastian of The Lovin' Spoonful for the soundtrack of the 1966 Francis Ford Coppola film You're a Big Boy Now. It has been described as "...one of the most heartfelt songs about being away from a loved one, written from the point of view of a musician on the road writing a letter."^[1] It appeared on The Lovin' Spoonful's 1967 soundtrack album You're a Big Boy Now and was released as a single, reaching #15 on the US pop charts. In the same year, a version by Bobby Darin reached #93 on the US charts, saxophonist Bud Shank put the track on his album A Spoonful of Jazz, and Billie Davis put it on the B-side of a single in the UK.

Sebastian performed his composition at Woodstock; it was the fourth song out of the five he performed at the 1969 music festival in White Lake, New York.

In 1969 "Darlin' Be Home Soon" appeared on Joe Cocker's Joe Cocker! album; it became a standard of Cocker's, appearing on many compilations and "best of"s. The song was performed by Slade and appears on their successful 1972 live album Slade Alive!. In the same year The Association almost made the top 100 in the US with a single (#104) taken from Waterbeds in Trinidad!

The other charting versions of the song are by the Barra MacNeils (1993, #23 Canadian and on their album Closer to Paradise) and Let Loose (1996, #65 UK as a single, and on the album Rollercoaster).

Other recordings of the song

• 1967 - Billie Davis, b/w on single "Angel of the Morning" – Decca F 12696
• 1969 Joe Cocker/Joe Cocker
• 1970 - Barry Allen on his album Barry Allen
• 1970 - The Brothers Four on their album 1970
• 1970 - Maxine Brown, single
• 1970 - Samantha Jones on the B-side of her single "My Way (Comme d'habitude)"
• 1972 - Slade on their live album Slade Alive!
• 1974 - Gigliola Cinquetti on her album Go (Before You Break My Heart)
• 1989 - Phoebe Snow on the Rude Awakening soundtrack album
• 1990 - Anne Richmond Boston (of The Swimming Pool Q's) on her album The Big House of Time
• 1993 - The Barra MacNeils on their album Closer to Paradise
• 1999 - Jules Shear on the compilation Bleecker Street: Greenwich Village in the 60's
• 2001 - Jimmy Ibbotson on Hummingbirds of the Americas.
• 2005 - Cass Elliot on The Complete Cass Elliot Collection: 1968-71 (recorded in 1968)
• 2006 - Matt Costa on his Sunshine single
• 2008 - Starsailor on their Boy in Waiting EP
• 2009 - Bruce Hornsby on the album The Village: A Celebration of the Music of Greenwich Village
• 2012 - Tedeschi Trucks Band on the album Everybody's Talkin'

References

Bobby Darin
Discography
Studio albums	Bobby Darin (1958) That's All (1960) This is Darin (1960) For Teenagers Only (1960) The 25th Day of December (1960) Two of a Kind (1961) Love Swings (1961) Twist with Bobby Darin (1961) Bobby Darin Sings Ray Charles (1962) Things and Other Things (1962) Oh! Look at Me Now (1962) You're the Reason I'm Living (1963) It's You or No One (1963) 18 Yellow Roses (1963) Earthy! (1963) Golden Folk Hits (1963) Winners (1964) From Hello Dolly to Goodbye Charlie (1964) Venice Blue (1965) Bobby Darin Sings The Shadow of Your Smile (1966) In a Broadway Bag (Mame) (1966) If I Were a Carpenter (1966) Inside Out (1967) Bobby Darin Sings Doctor Dolittle (1967) Bobby Darin Born Walden Robert Cassotto (1968) Commitment (1969)
Live albums	Darin at the Copa (1960) Live at the Desert Inn (1987)
Compilation albums	The Bobby Darin Story (1961) Aces Back to Back (2004)
Singles	"Splish Splash" "Early in the Morning" "Dream Lover" "Mack the Knife" "Beyond the Sea" "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby" "Things" "You're the Reason I'm Living" "If I Were a Carpenter" "Darlin' Be Home Soon"
Related articles	Beyond the Sea (film)
Book:Bobby Darin