Friday June 4, 2021 “I Got You Babe” Sonny & Cher
Sonny & Cher were the original rock & roll couple, sweet young, rebellious romantics..and maybe they actually were, for a while
Sonny Bono had been working with Phil Spector and absorbing all the production values he could and Cher was a backup singer featured on a number of early Spector recordings, notably “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling”. He had written “Needles and Pins” which was originally a hit for Jackie De Shannon and later for the Searchers.
Sonny wrote “I Got You Babe” expressly for Cher to do as a solo project but she suffered such overwhelming stage fright about singing in public that he had to agree to sing the song with her. The song was recorded in LA with the then unknown but so prolific backing band that would become known as the Wrecking Crew.
In the 1993 film Groundhog Day, Bill Murray is awakened every morning at 6:00AM with this song and as a result the song has become part of the annual strange groundhog tradition.
Sonny Bono would go on to become the mayor of Palm Springs and then a member of the House of Representatives until his death in a skiing accident. Cher would go on to be...well, Cher. Sonny is the godfather of Anthony Keidis lead singer from the band the Red Hot Chili Peppers...weird, no?
Stay safe and well...and there’s a nostalgic version of this song by the long divorced couple on the Letterman show here. You might note the difference in Cher’s vocals.