"Comin' Home Baby" is a song originally written as an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

Ben Tucker Benjamin M. Tucker (December 13, 1930 – June 4, 2013) was an American jazz bassist who appeared on hundreds of recordings. Tucker played on albums by Art Pepper, Billy Taylor, Quincy Jones, Grant Green, Dexter Gordon, Hank Crawford, Junior Ma ...

and first recorded by the Dave Bailey Quintet in 1961, and shortly thereafter by

Herbie Mann Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet (incl ...

Lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

were added by

Bob Dorough Robert Lrod Dorough (December 12, 1923 – April 23, 2018) was an American bebop and cool jazz vocalist, pianist, composer, songwriter, arranger, and producer. Dorough became famous as the composer and performer of songs in the TV series ''School ...

, and the vocal version became a US Top 40 hit for American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

singer

Mel Tormé Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed "The Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an Op ...

in 1962. The song has since been covered numerous times.

Original instrumental recordings

The tune was first recorded by the Dave Bailey Quintet on 6 October 1961, and issued on '' 2 Feet in the Gutter''. It was composed by Dave Bailey's bassist,

. The original musicians were Frank Haynes (tenor saxophone),

Bill Hardman William Franklin Hardman Jr. (April 6, 1933 – December 6, 1990) was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist who chiefly played hard bop. He was married to Roseline and they had a daughter Nadege. Career Hardman was born and grew ...

(trumpet), Billy Gardner (piano), Ben Tucker (bass), and Dave Bailey (drums). The tune was then recorded six weeks later by

, live at the

Village Gate The Village Gate was a nightclub at the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Streets in Greenwich Village, New York. Art D'Lugoff opened the club in 1958, on the ground floor and basement of 160 Bleecker Street. The large 1896 Chicago school (architec ...

, with Tucker again on bass. Mann's recording, produced by

Nesuhi Ertegun Nesuhi Ertegun ( Turkish spelling: Nesuhi Ertegün; November 26, 1917 – July 15, 1989) was a Turkish-American record producer and executive of Atlantic Records and WEA International. Early life Born in Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire, Nesuhi ...

and released by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

in 1962, became popular and drew wider attention to the tune.

Mel Tormé version

Tucker then persuaded his friend, lyricist

(later of ''

Schoolhouse Rock! ''Schoolhouse Rock!'' is an American interstitial programming series of animated musical educational short films (and later, videos) that aired during the Saturday morning children's programming block on the U.S. television network ABC. The theme ...

'' fame), to write a lyric for the tune, and producer Nesuhi Ertegun persuaded singer Mel Tormé, who had recently joined the Atlantic label, to record it. Tormé was initially reluctant to record the song, and later wrote that: "It was a minor-key

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

tune with trite repetitious lyrics and an 'answer' pattern to be sung by

the Cookies ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, a girl trio that had once worked for

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

". The recording took place in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on 13 September 1962. Despite Tormé's reservations, his version of the song, with an

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

Claus Ogerman Claus Ogerman (born Klaus Ogermann; 29 April 1930 – 8 March 2016) was a German arranger, conductor, and composer best known for his work with Billie Holiday, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Frank Sinatra, Michael Brecker, and Diana Krall. Life and wo ...

, rose to no.36 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include rec ...

in November 1962, becoming his biggest hit since the early 1950s; it reached no.13 on the

UK singles chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. It was also the title track of his album '' Comin' Home Baby!'' (with added

exclamation mark The exclamation mark, , or exclamation point (American English), is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or to show emphasis. The exclamation mark often marks the end of a sentence, f ...

). Tormé's recording was nominated as Best Male Solo Vocal Performance and Best

Rhythm and Blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

Performance at the 1963 Grammy Awards. Grammy awards 1963
. Retrieved 19 February 2014

Michael Bublé version

"Comin' Home Baby" was recorded by Canadian crooner

Michael Bublé Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer. A four-time Grammy Award winner, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American Songboo ...

, and released as the fifth and final single from his third studio album, ''

Call Me Irresponsible "Call Me Irresponsible" is a 1962 song composed by Jimmy Van Heusen with lyrics written by Sammy Cahn which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1963. According to the Mel Tormé book ''The Other Side of the Rainbow with Judy Garland o ...

''. The single was released on April 25, 2008, exclusively in Germany. It features vocals from the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

-winning vocal harmony group

Boyz II Men Boyz II Men (pronounced ''boys to men''), also known as B2M, is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are currently a trio composed of baritone Nathan M ...

. No video was filmed for the song, and there was little to no promotion, causing the release to not appear in any major charts worldwide. The digital download package features a new remix of the track from Frank Popp. A physical version of the single was also made available in Germany.

Track listing

* German CD single # "Comin' Home Baby" (Frank Popp Remix) - 3:09 # "Comin' Home Baby" (Album Version) - 3:27

References

{{authority control 1961 songs 2008 singles Mel Tormé songs Michael Bublé songs Boyz II Men songs 143 Records singles Reprise Records singles