
There are a lot of songs that have this week’s prompt, "baby," in the title, many of which will no doubt be chosen by everyone doing Song Lyric Sunday. And, you know me, I always strive to be different, so I decided instead to choose a song that featured "baby" in the lyrics.
"Chains" was written by the husband-and-wife super-songwriting duo of Gerry Goffin and Carole King. The Everly Brothers recorded it but never released it as a single, but The Cookies, Little Eva’s backup singers (you might remember that Eva was Goffin and King’s babysitter who recorded "The Loco-Motion"), had a hit with it (#17 on the Hot 100, #7 on the R&B chart) in 1962, and it was a popular tune for bands out of Liverpool, including The Beatles. They recorded it in 1963 for the album Please Please Me. George sang the lead vocal, with John (who added the harmonica solo at the beginning) and Paul on harmony vocals.
The lyrics, courtesy of AZLyrics:
And they ain’t the kind that you can see
Whoa, oh, these chains of love got a hold on me, yeah
Chains, well I can’t break away from these chains
Can’t run around, cos I’m not free
Whoa, oh, these chains of love won’t let me be, yeah
I wanna tell you, pretty baby
I think you’re fine
I’d like to love you
But, darling, I’m imprisoned by these…
Chains, my baby’s got me locked up in chains
And they ain’t the kind that you can see
Oh, oh, these chains of love got a hold on me
Please believe me when I tell you
Your lips are sweet
I’d like to kiss them
But I can’t break away from all of these…
Chains, my baby’s got me locked up in chains
And they ain’t the kind that you can see
Whoa, oh, these chains of love got a hold on me, yeah
Chains, chains of love…
And that’s Song Lyric Sunday (and Song of the Day) for December 15, 2019.
Don’t point at me and laugh but I don’t remember this Beatles tune. It’s either I’m aging badly or my uncle actually didn’t play EVERY Beatles’ song ever recorded! π
Nice choice! ππ
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Thanks! It was on their first album, which was Please Please Me in the UK and Introducing… The Beatles! in the US. I seem to remember a Capitol album called The Early Beatles which was basically Introducing… that they issued after Vee Jay (the label) went belly up. A lot of people forget that one.
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I do remember Introducing… The Beatles, but this song got by me. I was but a tiny tyke, but when my uncle came back from Vietnam, it was a years-long Beatles’ fest! π
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I’m a Beatlemaniac and this song is a great one. Didn’t realize George sang lead vocal on it until today π
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Hard to believe they recorded this album in a day…good song John.
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What a great choice, my fav Beatle singing tooπ and it can’t get better than Griffin and King π
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i never realized George sang it. I always thought it was John. The things you learn in this job.
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It’s great isn’t it ππ
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I havenβt heard the in a long time. Brilliant pick John π
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Thanks!
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Perfect song.
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I thought so. The feedback was good…
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It has been way too long since I last listened to this song, thanks for sharing it John.
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I need to give the whole album a listen again. I’m glad people like it.
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Love this one.
The Cookies eventually became the Raylettes, backing up Ray Charles. True story!
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I actually knew that… π
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I have never heard of this song! It just shows how much the Beatles did because this is on a record I never played..sorry.
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There are some real gems on their first couple of albums, a lot of them covers from other artists. They even covered “Til There Was You,” and did a remarkable job on it. George does a brief solo in it that displays remarkable maturity, and he was only 20 when he recorded it. I think that was when a lot of parents realized “hey, these kids are great musicians.”
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Good one!
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Thanks!
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Most welcome!
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So coveredtwo of my favs in one song…Carole King and the Beatles …
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How often does that happen, right? I think it might have been the only Goffin-King song they covered.
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Not heard this one for ages!
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The Beatles did so much great music that it’s easy to forget some of the songs from their early period, when they were doing covers as much as their own songs. They did some great covers of Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins (who was one of George’s idols).
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