Thursday January 27, 2022 ”Be My Baby” The Ronettes (Hal Blaine)
Ronnie Spector left us recently and we noted her passing with “Walking in the Rain”. Today’s song “Be My Baby” is really the signature song for Ronnie and the Ronettes but today’s piece was already written and I knew there wouldn’t be an objection to two Ronnie Spector tunes.
Hal Blaine is another inductee into the 2000 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame but like yesterday’s James Jamerson, he is not a household name.
Blaine was a West Coast studio drummer, part of a group known in the industry as the Wrecking Crew. And here’s another movie that you might consider watching to get a small idea of the number of bands that the Wrecking Crew played for on their recordings and it's not just their infamous work for the Monkees… the movie title is, coincidentally The Wrecking Crew.
We don’t have the time or space to include all of the songs that Blaine figures in but let's just go with the fact that he claimed to have played over 35,000 sessions on more than 6,000 songs, 150 of which were top ten tunes and 40 of which were number one hits. Pretty amazing record and yet outside of the LA music world there are few who even know who he is.
As a reference he played on almost every Beach Boys recording, all of Phil Spector’s LA recordings and with artists as diverse as Simon & Garfunkel, Frank Sinatra, The Carpenters and Elvis Presley to name only a very few.
Referencing Blaine, E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg wrote, "If Hal Blaine had played drums only on 'Be My Baby', his name would still be uttered with reverence and respect for the power of his big beat."
And much like bass player James Jamerson’s playing on yesterday’s “My Girl”, Blaine’s playing on “Be My Baby” serves as both the introduction, and driving soul of this song as well as creating a signature drum fill at 2:01 of the song that would become a staple in countless songs after this…OK the Ronettes brought their own wonderful flavor as well.
Stay safe and well…and next time you are with friends and a 60s song is playing you can impress them by saying ‘...that’s Hal Blaine playing drums there.’..because it probably is.