This list of songs is inspired by lists published by radio station KEXP-FM from Seattle in 2010, as well as the latest poll taken in 2021 by Rolling Stone Magazine. For the most part I will faithfully countdown from their lists, starting at Song #500 and going until I reach Song #1. When you see the song title listed as something like: Song #XXX (KEXP)….it means that I am working off of the official KEXP list. Song XXX (RS) means the song is coming from the Rolling Stone list. If I post the song title as being: Song #xxx (KTOM), it means I have gone rogue and am inserting a song choice from my own personal list of tunes I really like. In any case, you are going to get to hear a great song and learn the story behind it. Finally, just so everyone is aware, I am not a music critic nor a musician. I am a music fan and an armchair storyteller. Here is the story behind today’s song. Enjoy.
RS: The Top 500 Songs in Modern Music History.
Song #93: Baby Love by The Supremes.
“Baby Love” was the second (of five consecutive) #1 hit songs for the Motown act known as The Supremes. The song was written by the songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland and contains a lot of the same musical structure of their initial hit, “Where Did Our Love Go?”. In that song, the word, “Baby” was used over sixty times so, as a bridge to their next hit, having “Baby” in the title seemed like an obvious thing to do.
There really isn’t a whole lot to say about this song. In the factory-like setting of Motown, “Baby Love” was, essentially, just the next song for The Supremes to come down the Holland-Dozier-Holland assembly line. Eddie Holland states that “Baby Love” was based on feelings he had for a girlfriend from his past who had rejected him but, for whom, he still had feelings. “Baby Love” was, also, the song that cemented Diana Ross as a singer who “ooohed” a lot to start off her songs thus, becoming a trademark of her singing style. A final note is that, in an effort to help Motown singers gain some traction in the UK, The Supremes toured there in support of this song and, even did some shows with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr helping out. Consequently, “Baby Love” became the only song by The Supremes to reach #1 in the UK.
As for The Supremes and the story of their career, I covered that already in a previous post about, “Where Did Our Love Go?”. *(which you can read here). For now, here is “Baby Love” by The Supremes. Enjoy.
The link to the video for the song, “Baby Love” by The Supremes, can be found here.
The link to the official website for The Supremes, can be found here.
The link to the official website for Rolling Stone Magazine, can be found here.
Tom MacInnes, Writer