Nothing But Kiss and Hug Me

‘My Babe’ is a Chicago blues song and a blues standard that Willie Dixon wrote for Marion Walter Jacobs, who was better known as Little Walter.  Little Walter and His Jukes recorded this song and it was released in 1955 on Checker Records, a subsidiary of Chess Records.  It became the only Dixon composition ever to become a #1 R&B single and it was one of the biggest hits of either of their careers.  Little Walter’s 1952 instrumental ‘Juke’ recorded as Little Walter & his Night Cats stayed on top of the Billboard charts for eight weeks, and ‘My Babe’ spent five weeks at the top position.  Little Walter and His Jukes were made up of harmonica player Little Walter, blues guitarist Dave Meyers, drummer Fred Below, singer and guitarist Robert Lockwood Jr., and upright bass player Willie Dixon.  Dixon based ‘My Babe’ on the traditional gospel song ‘This Train (Is Bound For Glory)’, which was first recorded in 1922.  Its origins are unknown, but it became a hit when it was recorded by Sister Rosetta Tharpe as ‘This Train’ in the late 1930s.  Dixon reworked the arrangement and lyrics from being a sacred procession of saints going into Heaven, to become a story about a woman that won’t stand for her man cheating on her.

Willie Dixon felt that ‘My Babe’ would be perfect for Little Walter, because he was the type of fellow who wanted to brag about some chick, somebody he loved, something he was doing or getting away with.  Little Walter said many times that he just didn’t like this song but, by 1955, the Chess people had gained confidence enough in Dixon that they felt if Willie wanted Little Walter to do it, it must be his type of thing.  The minute the song was released, it went right to the top of the charts.  Ray Charles had reworked the gospel hymn ‘It Must Be Jesus’ into ‘I Got a Woman’, which climbed to #1 on the Billboard R&B charts, and just days after, Little Walter recorded ‘My Babe’ and Checker released it while ‘I Got a Woman’ was still on the charts.  The ‘My Babe’ single spent 19 weeks on the Billboard R&B charts, including five weeks at the top position, making it into eighth place as one of the biggest R&B hits of 1955.

Willie Dixon is often called the unsung father of Chicago blues, because other artists like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Koko Taylor, Bo Diddley and Otis Rush were getting much more attention than he was.  Willie Dixon was more of a man behind the scenes playing his bass and being a staff writer and producer at Chess Records.  During his career Willie Dixon wrote, or co-wrote over 500 songs, many of which have become blues standards.  Long before he emerged as one of the linchpins of post-war Chicago blues, giant-sized Willie Dixon was experimenting with a smoothly harmonized, pop-accessible approach to the genre with his Big Three Trio, a popular night club act.  Dixon played with pianist Baby Doo, and guitarist Bernardo Dennis to form The Big Three Trio in ‘46.  They used to write songs and Lester Melrose would buy them for a small amount of money like $10 or $15 a song, or basically whatever they could get for them.  The Big Three Trio stayed together into 1951, but Dixon made a career as a blues session bassist and prolific songwriter.  He reigned as the bard of Chicago blues during the 1950s and ‘60s, writing seminal smashes for Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Otis Rush, Koko Taylor (he discovered her), and plenty more.  Willie Dixon died January 29, 1992, his legacy as a Chicago blues heavyweight would by the 1960s redefine rock music.

Little Walter was a heavy drinker that liked to fight and, after a vicious brawl he was involved in on February 15, 1968, he died of coronary thrombosis at the age of 37.  Little Walter was chosen for the 1980 inaugural class of the Blues Hall of Fame, in 2008 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and he won a Grammy Hall of Fame award for ‘Juke’, which was said to have changed everything for the blues.  In 2008, ‘My Babe’ was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame.  There are many covers of ‘My Babe’ as it was also recorded by Ricky Nelson, Dale Hawkins, Fabian, The Coasters, Bo Diddley, Conway Twitty, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Peter and Gordon, Gerry and The Pacemakers, The Everly Brothers, Ike & Tina Turner, Elvis Presley, Ronnie Hawkins, Steve Miller Band, Link Wray, George Thorogood & The Destroyers and many others.  I couldn’t find that many good videos of this song, but I did enjoy the versions done by Blue Piano Band and the one done by Whitehorse.

My baby don’t stand no cheatin’, my babe
My baby don’t stand no cheatin’, my babe
My baby don’t stand no cheatin’
She don’t stand that midnight creepin’
My babe, true little baby, my babe

My baby, I know she love me, my babe
My baby, I know she love me, my baby
My baby, I know she love me
She don’t do nothing but kiss and hug me
My babe, true little baby is my babe

My baby don’t stand no teasin’, my babe
My baby don’t stand no cheatin’, my baby
My baby don’t stand no cheatin’
Everything she do, she does so pleasin’
My babe, true little baby, my babe

My baby don’t stand no foolin’, my babe
My baby don’t stand no foolin’, my baby
My baby don’t stand no foolin’
When she’s hot there ain’t no coolin’
My babe, true little baby is my babe

Written for Song Lyric Sunday where the theme this week is Embrace, Hug, Kiss.