My Baby Just Cares for Me

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"My Baby Just Cares for Me" is a jazz standard written by Walter Donaldson with lyrics by Gus Kahn. It was written for the 1930 film version of the 1928 Ziegfeld musical comedy Whoopee!, starring Eddie Cantor. It is known as the signature tune of singer and pianist Nina Simone.

Nina Simone recording

"My Baby Just Cares for Me"
Song

Simone recorded the song in 1958 for her debut album, Little Girl Blue. The track remained relatively obscure until 1987, when it was used in a UK television commercial for Chanel No. 5 perfume. To follow up this exposure, the track was released as a single by Charly Records[1], entering the UK Singles Chart on October 31, 1987 (1987-10-31) and becoming, at Number 5[2], one of Simone's biggest hits almost nineteen years after her previous chart entry. This single also made the top 10 in several European single charts and peaked at number one in the Dutch Top 40[3]. A claymation music video was produced by Aardman Animations and directed by Peter Lord.

Chart performance

Chart (1985) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart[4] 82
Chart (1987/1988) Peak
position
Austrian Singles Chart[5] 8
Dutch Top 40[3] 1
French SNEP Singles Chart[6] 9
Swiss Singles Chart[7] 5
UK Singles Chart[2] 5
Preceded by Dutch Top 40 number-one single [3]
December 26, 1987 (1987-12-26) – January 8, 1988 (1988-01-08) (2 weeks) 		Succeeded by

Other notable recordings

George Michael arranged and recorded a version of “My Baby Just Cares for Me” for his 1999 album Songs from the Last Century. Cyndi Lauper made her own arrangement of the classic tune and released it on her 2003 album "At Last". It has also been recorded by Nat King Cole, Amanda Lear, Mel Tormé, Mary Wells and Alex Chilton. Frank Sinatra recorded an up-tempo version of this song for his 1965 Reprise album, Strangers in the Night.

In the Woody Allen movie, "Everyone Says I Love You" there is an extended musical dance scene of the song performed by Edward Norton and Natasha Lyonne in Harry Winston, the jewelry store. Holden (Edward Norton) brings his soon-to-be sister-in-law Djuna a.k.a. D.J. (Natasha Lyonne) to pick out an engagement ring for his fiancee, Skylar (Drew Barrymore), and the song breaks out.

Alex Chilton recorded his version on his album "Cliches" released in 1994 by Ardent Records.

Indigo Swing had great success with their 1998 rendition on their "My Baby Just Cares for Me" album; it became a standard in U.S. dance halls during the Swing Dance revival. Other artists including Renee Olstead and Rob Rio also then recorded swing dance renditions of the song. The Indigo Swing recording introduced many swing dancers to Nina Simone.

Jools Holland & his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra and Florence Welch (from Florence + the Machine) performed the song on the pre-recorded New Year's Eve celebration show Hootenanny in 2009.

References

  1. ^ Nina Simone catalogue at Charly Records
  2. ^ a b "Chart Stats - Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me {1987}". Retrieved November 12, 2009 (2009-11-12). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  3. ^ a b c "De Nederlandse Top 40 - week 52, 1987 [[:Template:Nl icon]]". Retrieved November 12, 2009 (2009-11-12). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  4. ^ "Chart Stats - Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me". Retrieved November 12, 2009 (2009-11-12). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  5. ^ "Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me - austriancharts.at [[:Template:De icon]]". Retrieved November 12, 2009 (2009-11-12). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  6. ^ "lescharts.com - Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me [[:Template:Fr icon]]". Retrieved November 12, 2009 (2009-11-12). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  7. ^ "Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me - hitparade.ch [[:Template:De icon]]". Retrieved November 12, 2009 (2009-11-12). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  8. ^ "De Nederlandse Top 40 - week 51, 1987 [[:Template:Nl icon]]". Retrieved November 12, 2009 (2009-11-12). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  9. ^ "De Nederlandse Top 40 - week 2, 1988 [[:Template:Nl icon]]". Retrieved November 12, 2009 (2009-11-12). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)


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