"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 musical comedy film Whoopee!, starring Eddie Cantor. It is best known as the signature tune of singer and pianist Nina Simone.
Contents |
Nina Simone recording
| "My Baby Just Cares for Me" | |
|---|---|
 Cover of Nina Simone's 1987 single release |
|
| Single by Nina Simone | |
| from the album Little Girl Blue | |
| Released | 1958 |
| Recorded | 1958 |
| Genre | Jazz |
| Length | 3:20 |
| Writer(s) | Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn |
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 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 "Faith" by George Michael[8] |
Dutch Top 40 number-one single [3] December 26, 1987 – January 8, 1988 (2 weeks) |
Succeeded by "China in Your Hand" by T'Pau[9] |
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.
References
- ^ Nina Simone catalogue at Charly Records
- ^ a b "Chart Stats - Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me {1987}". http://www.chartstats.com/songinfo.php?id=14793. Retrieved November 12, 2009.
- ^ a b c "De Nederlandse Top 40 - week 52, 1987 (Dutch)". http://www.top40.nl/index.aspx?week=52&jaar=1987&maand=12. Retrieved November 12, 2009.
- ^ "Chart Stats - Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me". http://www.chartstats.com/songinfo.php?id=12459. Retrieved November 12, 2009.
- ^ "Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me - austriancharts.at (German)". http://austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=Nina+Simone&titel=My+Baby+Just+Cares+For+Me&cat=s. Retrieved November 12, 2009.
- ^ "lescharts.com - Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me (French)". http://lescharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Nina+Simone&titel=My+Baby+Just+Cares+For+Me&cat=s. Retrieved November 12, 2009.
- ^ "Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me - hitparade.ch (German)". http://hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=Nina+Simone&titel=My+Baby+Just+Cares+For+Me&cat=s. Retrieved November 12, 2009.
- ^ "De Nederlandse Top 40 - week 51, 1987 (Dutch)". http://www.top40.nl/index.aspx?week=51&jaar=1987. Retrieved November 12, 2009.
- ^ "De Nederlandse Top 40 - week 2, 1988 (Dutch)". http://www.top40.nl/index.aspx?week=2&jaar=1988. Retrieved November 12, 2009.
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