"Since I Met You Baby" is an American
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 ...
song written and recorded by pianist
Ivory Joe Hunter
Ivory Joe Hunter (October 10, 1914 – November 8, 1974) was an American rhythm-and-blues singer, songwriter, and pianist. After a series of hits on the US R&B chart starting in the mid-1940s, he became more widely known for his hit recordin ...
. The song, which Hunter recorded in 1956, became an American
standard Standard may refer to:
Symbols
* Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs
* Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification
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* Standard (metrology), an object th ...
, and saw renewed popularity in 1969 when
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
artist
Sonny James
Jimmie Hugh Loden (May 1, 1928February 22, 2016), known professionally as Sonny James, was an American country music singer and songwriter best known for his 1957 hit, " Young Love", topping both of the early versions of today's ''Billboard'' ...
released his hit version.
Song background
Hunter had already tasted major success with popular and rhythm and blues audiences with songs such as "
I Almost Lost My Mind
"I Almost Lost My Mind" is a popular song written by Ivory Joe Hunter and published in 1950. Hunter's recording of the song was a number one hit on the US '' Billboard'' R&B singles chart in that year.
Hunter recorded the 12-bar blues style so ...
". He moved to
Atlantic Records by 1954, and around that time wrote "Since I Met You Baby."
The song, a
12-bar blues, was described by
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
critic Steve Huey as "a masterpiece of smooth, bluesy elegance" and "decidedly removed from the tide of raucous rock & roll sweeping the country." In fact, compared to many of the other uptempo, rock-beat songs of the period, the song was "augmented by a wordless vocal choir (supervised by
Ray Ellis
Ray Ellis (July 28, 1923 – October 27, 2008) was an American record producer, arranger, conductor, and saxophonist. He was responsible for the orchestration in Billie Holiday's '' Lady in Satin'' (1958).
Biography
Raymond Spencer Ellis ...
who also did the orchestral arrangement) that's strongly reminiscent of traditional pop recordings of the period," wrote Huey.
Saxophonist
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pro ...
Jesse Powell provided the harmony on the second verse.
"Since I Met You Baby" topped the ''
Billboard magazine
''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the musi ...
''
Rhythm and Blues Records chart for three weeks in 1957, and became Hunter's only
''Billboard'' Hot 100 entry, stopping at No. 12.
Atlantic licensed the recording to
Quality Records
Quality Records was a Canadian entertainment company which released music albums in Canada on behalf of American record labels. They also released recordings by Canadian artists.
The company operated between 1950 and 1985 with offices in Toron ...
in Canada and
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
's
Columbia label in the UK.
Hunter was presented with a
gold record
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
for this song which was awarded during his appearance on ''
The Ed Sullivan Show
''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the '' CBS Sunday Night M ...
''.
Cover versions
Sonny James
Sonny James had major success covering pop standards, both of the present time and of the past, during the 1960s. In 1969 alone, he had reached the top of the ''Billboard''
Hot Country Singles
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States.
This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sa ...
chart with two such covers: "
Only the Lonely
"Only the Lonely (Know the Way I Feel)" is a 1960 song written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson. Orbison's recording of the song, produced by Fred Foster for Monument Records, was the first major hit for the singer. It was described by ''The Ne ...
" and "
Running Bear
"Running Bear" is a teenage tragedy song written by Jiles Perry Richardson (a.k.a. The Big Bopper) and sung most famously by Johnny Preston in 1959. The 1959 recording featured background vocals by George Jones and the session's producer Bill ...
."
"Since I Met You Baby" was James' third cover song released during 1969. Supposedly recorded live (the song's introduction and fade out features a cheering audience), the audience was added to the studio recording. James took the song to No. 1 on the Hot Country Singles chart that October. His 13th chart-topper overall, the song was his ninth consecutive country No. 1 in an eventual string of 16 straight chart-toppers in as many single releases, dating between 1967 and 1971.
Other artists
Mindy Carson
Mindy Carson is an American former traditional pop vocalist. She was heard often on radio during the 1940s and 1950s.
Early years
Carson grew up in the Bronx, graduating from James Monroe High School. After graduation, she took a position as typ ...
had a chart version of the song in 1957.
Sam Cooke included this song on his 1961 album, ''
My Kind of Blues''.
The Spencer Davis Group
The Spencer Davis Group were a British band formed in Birmingham in 1963 by Spencer Davis (guitar), brothers Steve Winwood (keyboards, guitar) and Muff Winwood (bass guitar), and Pete York (drums). Their best known songs include the UK numb ...
recorded a version on their second UK album ''
The Second Album'' (1966),
Fontana TL5295.
Country-Tejano artist
Freddy Fender
Freddy Fender (born Baldemar Garza Huerta; June 4, 1937 – October 14, 2006) was an American Tejano, country and rock and roll musician, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados. He was best ...
had a major country hit in the mid-1970s with a Spanish version of the song, "Desde Que Conozco", which featured in John Sayles's 1996 movie, ''
Lone Star''.
Countless other artists have recorded "Since I Met You Baby," and they represented a wide range of genres. A partial listing includes
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Fur ...
,
Pat Boone
Patrick Charles Eugene Boone (born June 1, 1934) is an American singer and actor. He was a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He sold more than 45 million records, had 38 Top 40 hits, and appeared in mo ...
,
Sandy Posey
Sandy Posey (born Sandra Lou Posey, June 18, 1944) is an American popular singer who enjoyed success in the 1960s with singles such as her 1966 recording of Martha Sharp's compositions "Born a Woman" and "Single Girl". She is often described as ...
,
Bill Anderson,
Paul Evans,
Mickey Gilley
Mickey Leroy Gilley (March 9, 1936 – May 7, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although he started out singing straight-up country and western material in the 1970s, he moved towards a more pop-friendly sound in the 19 ...
,
Bruce Channel
Bruce Channel ( ; born November 28, 1940) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his 1962 million-selling number-one hit record, " Hey! Baby".
Career
Channel performed originally for the radio program '' Louisiana Hayride'' and t ...
,
Sam Cooke,
Willy DeVille
Willy DeVille (born William Paul Borsey Jr.; August 25, 1950 – August 6, 2009) was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five-year career, first with his band Mink DeVille (1974–1986) and later on his own, DeVille created ori ...
,
José Feliciano
José Montserrate Feliciano García (born September 10, 1945) () is a Puerto Rican musician, singer and composer. He recorded many international hits, including his rendition of the Doors' "Light My Fire" and his self-penned Christmas song " F ...
,
Oscar Harris,
Narvel Felts
Albert Narvel Felts (born November 11, 1938) is an American country music and rockabilly singer. Known for his soaring tenor and high falsetto, Felts enjoyed his greatest success during the 1970s, most famously 1975's "Reconsider Me".
Career
H ...
,
B.B. King
Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...
,
Wanda Jackson
Wanda LaVonne Jackson (born October 20, 1937) is an American singer and songwriter. Since the 1950s, she has recorded and released music in the genres of rock, country and gospel. She was among the first women to have a career in rock and roll, ...
,
Solomon Burke,
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as " rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis ma ...
,
Dean Martin,
Lou Rawls,
Gary Moore,
Bobby Vee
Robert Thomas Velline (April 30, 1943 – October 24, 2016), known professionally as Bobby Vee, was an American singer who was a teen idol in the early 1960s and also appeared in films. According to ''Billboard'' magazine, he had thirty-ei ...
,
Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, and
Johnny "Guitar" Watson.
Chart performance
Ivory Joe Hunter
Mindy Carson
Bobby Vee
Sonny James
Freddy Fender
B.B. King And Gary Moore
References
{{Ivory Joe Hunter
1956 singles
1969 singles
Sonny James songs
Freddy Fender songs
Songs written by Ivory Joe Hunter
Song recordings produced by Ahmet Ertegun
Song recordings produced by Jerry Wexler
1956 songs
Atlantic Records singles
Capitol Records singles
Song recordings produced by George Richey