(You're) Having My Baby

Album

Anka

Label

United Artists Records

Genre

Soft Rock

Composer(s)

Paul Anka

Entered Chart

Jul 6, 1974

Peak Date

Aug 24, 1974

Released

June 1974 (US)

Recorded

1974

Catalog #

United Artists 454

B-Side

Papa (Anka)

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Paul Anka had four daughters when he recorded this song in 1974. He wrote it about the joys of fatherhood and his appreciation for his wife (Anne de Zogheb, a former fashion model), but it came off a bit patronizing: Having my baby What a lovely way of saying How much you love me The National Organization of Women (NOW) took him to task, giving him a derisive "Keep Her In Her Place" award. Anka insisted the song was an affectionate tribute to childbirth, and the song's popularity bore this out: The song went to #1 in America for three weeks. This is a duet with the female singer Odia Coates, who gives the subject of the song a voice: I'm a woman in love And I love what's goin' through me Many women, in love or otherwise, recognize this as a lyric only a man would write. The song didn't start out as a duet: Anka was doing it solo when an executive at his label suggested that Odia Coates, whom Anka was working with at the time, sing on it with him. She ended up singing on the track and also on Anka's next three singles: "One Man Woman/One Woman Man" (#7 US), "I Don't Like To Sleep Alone" (#8 US) and "(I Believe) There's Nothing Stronger Than Our Love" (#15 US). Coates reached #71 in 1975 with a cover of the Electric Light Orchestra song "Showdown," and #91 that year with the Anka-penned "Don't Leave Me In The Morning." She died of cancer in 1991 at age 49. This was a big comeback song for Anka, who was one of the most popular artists of the late '50s and early '60s, but was swept away by the British Invasion. When "(You're) Having My Baby" hit #1 in America, it was 15 years after his last chart-topper, "Lonely Boy," a record at the time for longest span between #1 hits.

Having my baby
What a lovely way of saying
How much you love me.
Having my baby
What a lovely way of saying
What you're thinking of me.
I can see it your face is glowing

I can see it in your eyes.
I'm happy knowin' that you're having my baby.
You're the woman I love and I love what it's doin' to you.
Having my baby
You're a woman in love and I love
What's goin' through you.
The need inside you
I see it showin'
Oh
The seed inside you
Baby
Do you feel it growin'
Are you happy in knowin' that you're having my baby?

I'm a woman in love and I love
What it's doin' to me.
Having my baby.
I'm a woman in love and I love
What's goin' through me.

Didn't have to keep it
Wouldn't put you through it.
You could have swept it from your life
But you wouldn't do it
No
You wouldn't do it.
And you're having my baby.

I'm a woman in love and I love