THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! The Ronettes, "Be My Baby"

This chapter appears in my book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), immediately following a chapter about Ike and Tina Turner and that Phil Spector guy.

An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!

THE RONETTES: Be My Baby

Written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and Phil Spector

Produced by Phil Spector

Single, Philles Records, 1963

Was the late Hal Blaine pop music's all-time greatest drummer? Very possibly so. And the accolade isn't just because of the sheer volume of his body of work, though that sure doesn't hurt his case; in our lives as pop fans, we've probably heard Blaine more often than we heard Ringo and Bernard Purdie combined. That's not exaggeration; that's just how much work Hal Blaine did on so many records we all know.

Blaine didn't get all those gigs just because he was available; he was good. He was great. 

Blain's credits include essentials by the Mamas and the Papas, Beach Boys, Byrds, 5th Dimension, Monkees, Ike and Tina Turner, Love, Everly Brothers, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Grass Roots, Vogues, Carpenters, Crystals, Simon and Garfunkel, Tommy Roe, Nancy Sinatra, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Glen Campbell, Sonny and Cher, Barbra Streisand, the Association, and so many more. Hal Blaine is responsible for the single most iconic drum intro in rockin' pop history, the majestic boom-boomboom-chuk-boom-boomboom-chuk of "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes. If you loved pop music in the '60s and '70s, then Hal Blaine was a part of your life. He always will be.

"Be My Baby" doesn't just have that iconic Hal Blaine intro. It has iconic vocals, iconic production, the iconic Phil Spector Wall of Sound. While pundits overuse the word "iconic," if we can't call "Be My Baby" iconic, what other song could possibly qualify instead?

Boom-boomboom-chuk-boom-boomboom-chuk.

"Be My Baby" also has teen singer Veronica Bennett. That is not a minor point. Bennett's waifish voice seems chaste and innocent while implying a sensuous something more. Her producer certainly noticed, and before long they were married, her new (iconic) name as Ronnie Spector far outlasting the troubled, tempestuous relationship itself. Like Tina Turner surviving her marriage to Ike, Ronnie Spector survived Phil Spector.

And like Ike, Phil Spector's accomplishments do not absolve him of...anything. But he deserves the credit for masterminding this incredible record, the single shiniest cornerstone of his lauded wall of sound. "Be My Baby" inspired Brian Wilson to be better, more ambitious, greater in his vision and in his accomplishment. A wall of sound, a sound made for radio and the dreams that radio can conjure. Spector. Hal Blaine, and his invincible studio compatriots. Sublime vocal support from some teens named Estelle Bennett and Nedra Talley (Ronnie's sister and cousin, respectively). And a teenager named Veronica--Ronnie--singing sweetly of love's promise while on the precipice of plummeting into its abyss. Boom-boomboom-chuk-boom-boomboom-chuk. I guess that says it all.

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My new book The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1) is now available, and you can order an autographed copy here. You can still get my previous book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones from publisher Rare Bird Books, OR an autographed copy here. If you like the books, please consider leaving a rating and/or review at the usual online resources.

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