Baby Talks Dirty
| "Baby Talks Dirty" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by The Knack | ||||
| from the album ...But the Little Girls Understand | ||||
| B-side | "End of the Game" | |||
| Released | February 1980 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Genre | New Wave, Power Pop | |||
| Length | 3:45 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Writer(s) | Doug Fieger, Berton Averre | |||
| Producer | Mike Chapman | |||
| The Knack singles chronology | ||||
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"Baby Talks Dirty" is a 1980 Top 40 single written by Doug Fieger and Berton Averre from The Knack's second album, ...But the Little Girls Understand. Like the album it was taken from, "Baby Talks Dirty" fell short of the success of its predecessors. Whereas The Knack's first single, "My Sharona" reached #1 in the U.S., and its follow-up from their debut album Get the Knack, "Good Girls Don't" reached #11, "Baby Talks Dirty" only reached #38, spending just 2 weeks in the Top 40.[1][2][3] The song also reached #40 in New Zealand.[4]
Part of the song's lack of success has been attributed to its similarity to "My Sharona".[5][6] The 1983 edition of The New Rolling Stone Record Guide referred to the song as a "'Sharona carbon copy."[7] Allmusic's Chris Woodstra noted that the entire ...But the Little Girls Understand album is a "rewrite" of the band's first album, stating that this is "especially evident on the lead-off single 'Baby Talks Dirty.'"[8] "Baby Talks Dirty" was also given by critics as a prime example of the group's misogyny, where the girl in the song wants the singer to hurt her and "loves a real neat beating."[5] In his review of ...But the Little Girls Understand, Rolling Stone Magazine critic Dave Marsh referred to the protagonist as "a foul-mouthed windup doll."[9]
Another factor in the song's, and its album's, lack of chart success was its timing, being released a mere eight months after "My Sharona" and Get The Knack.[5] This made the similarity between "My Sharona" and "Baby Talks Dirty" more jarring.[5] Theodore Cateforis notes that "In this context, 'Baby Talks Dirty,' with its syncopated, bouncing octave eighth-note hook cut from the same mold as 'My Sharona,' sounded most of all as if the band had plagiarized itself."[5] Fieger has stated that "We got a lot of criticism for 'Baby Talks Dirty.' Had that song come out on our fifth album, I think people would have said 'oh, they've gone back to their roots. They take the 'My Sharona' riff to another place.' But as it was, people were gunning for us."[5]
Fieger has acknowledged that, like many songs on The Knack's first two albums, "Baby Talks Dirty" was written about the same Sharona Alperin who inspired "My Sharona".[10]
The Knack's follow up single to "Baby Talks Dirty" was "Can't Put a Price on Love," also from ...But the Little Girls Understand. That song peaked lower on the Billboard charts than "Baby Talks Dirty," peaking at #62.[3] Subsequent to its appearance on ...But the Little Girls Understand, "Baby Talks Dirty" was released on a number of Knack compilation albums, including The Retrospective: The Best of the Knack (1992), Very Best of The Knack (1998) and Best of The Knack (1999).[11] It also appeared on the 2002 live album and DVD Live From the Rock 'N' Roll Funhouse and the 2007 live DVD On Stage at World Cafe Live.[11] It also appeared on the multiartist compilation album Rock of the 80's Vol. 5.[11]
[edit] References
- ^ Whitburn, J. (2010). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 9th Edition: Complete Chart Information (9 ed.). Random House. p. 362. ISBN 9780823085545.
- ^ Mann, B. (2005). Blinded by the lyrics: behind the lines of rock and roll's most baffling songs. Citadel Press. p. 74. ISBN 9780806526959.
- ^ a b "...But the Little Girls Understand singles". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/but-the-little-girls-understand-r11108/charts-awards/billboard-single. Retrieved 2011-07-11.
- ^ "Baby Talks Dirty: New Zealand charts". charts.org.nz. http://charts.org.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Knack&titel=Baby+Talks+Dirty&cat=s. Retrieved 2011-10-09.
- ^ a b c d e f Cateforis, T. (2011). Are We Not New Wave?: Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980s. University of Michigan Press. pp. 147–148. ISBN 9780472034703.
- ^ Robbins, I. & Sandlin, M.. "Knack". Trouser Press. http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=knack. Retrieved 2011-07-18.
- ^ Marsh, D. & Swenson, J. (1983). The new Rolling stone record guide. Random House/Rolling Stone Press. p. 281. ISBN 9780394721071.
- ^ Woodstra, C.. "...But the Little Girls Understand". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/but-the-little-girls-understand-r11108. Retrieved 2011-07-11.
- ^ Marsh, D. (April 3, 1980). "...But the Little Girls Understand". Rolling Stone Magazine.
- ^ Michaels, R. (2005). Flashbacks to Happiness: Eighties Music Revisited. iUniverse. p. 342. ISBN 9780595370078.
- ^ a b c "Baby Talks Dirty". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/search/track/Baby+Talks+Dirty/order:default-asc. Retrieved 2011-07-11.
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