Baby Come Back

Album

Player

Label

RSO Records

Genre

Blue-eyed soul

Composer(s)

John C. Crowley;Peter Beckett

Entered Chart

Oct 1, 1977

Peak Date

Jan 14, 1978

Released

October 13, 1977

Recorded

1977

Catalog #

RSO 879

B-Side

Love Is Where You Find It

The apotheosis of "I made a terrible mistake and now I want you back" songs, "Baby Come Back" was rooted in real heartbreak. It was written by Player founders Peter Beckett and J. C. Crowley. Beckett is from Liverpool, England (home of The Beatles), but moved to Los Angeles to join a band called Skyband, which broke up after one album. By the time he formed Player with Crowley, his wife had left him and returned to England. Crowley was also going through a breakup, so channeled their feeling into the song. Beckett sang lead on the track. "Baby Come Back" earned Player a record deal. After Peter Beckett and J. C. Crowley, who were both singer-guitarists, wrote the song, they added bass player Ronn Moss and pitched it to producers. The production team of Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter heard its hit potential straight away and took it to RSO Records, which signed the band. Adding drummer John Friesen to the lineup, they recorded their debut album before they ever played live together. "Baby Come Back," released as the first single, was a huge hit, going to #1 in January 1978 and staying for three weeks. Player is almost exclusively known for this song, but their follow-up single, "This Time I'm in It for Love," made a respectable showing, going to #10 in America. The group had a few more minor hits before breaking up in 1982. After the demise of Player, Beckett joined Australia's Little River Band, who included "Baby Got Back" on a live album. Beckett also wrote "Twist Of Fate" for Olivia Newton-John and "After All This Time" for Kenny Rogers. Player bassist Ronn Moss became a very popular star on the CBS Soap Opera The Bold And The Beautiful, playing the character Ridge Forrester from 1987–2012. Crowley left Player after their second album and went on to write songs recorded by Smokey Robinson, Johnny Cash, The Little River Band and many others. He released a solo album in 1988 entitled Beneath The Texas Moon; the title track appeared in Clint Eastwood's move Pink Cadillac. A staple of soft rock radio, "Baby Come Back" exemplifies what would later be known as "Yacht Rock": mellow, sophisticated (and often maligned) music. Nicholas Niespodziani of the Yacht Rock Revue told Songfacts this one is a crowd-pleaser. "'Baby Come Back' is such a great tune melodically, and the emotion of it really connects with people," he said. "I noticed that when we do it, there's something undeniably sexy about it, and it still works for those dudes all these years later." Peter Beckett explained in The Yacht Rock Book: The Oral History of the Soft, Smooth Sounds of the '70s and '80s: "I guess this one hit home, lyrically, and touched people. Basically, it was both of us having broken up with somebody. So it was a genuine song, a genuine lyric. And I think that comes across in the song - that's why it was so popular." In 2008, this song made a most improbable comeback when it was used to pitch the Swiffer WetJet, a mop which sprays floor cleaner. The song is used humorously, as the old mops try to win back the housewives who have tossed them out. >> When Homer rings the lost baby hotline to report that Maggie has gone missing during the 1992 "Homer Alone" episode of The Simpsons, this tune is played as the on hold music. The song also appears in these movies: Transformers (2007) Date Movie (2006) Roll Bounce (2005) Safe Men (1998) FM (1978)

Spending all my nights, all my money going out on the town
Doing anything just to get you off of my mind, yeah
But when the morning comes, I'm right back where I started again
And tryna forget you is just a waste of time

Baby come back, any kind of fool could see
There was something in everything about you
Baby come back, yeah, you can blame it all on me
'Cause I was wrong, and I just can't live without you

All day long, wearing a mask of false bravado (false bravado)
Tryna keep up a smile that hides a tear (hides a tear)
But as the sun goes down, I get that empty feeling again
How I wish to God that you were here

Baby come back, yeah, any kind of fool could see
There was something in everything about you
Baby come back, you can blame it all on me
I was wrong, and I just can't live without you, no

Now that I put it all together, ooh
Give me the chance to make you see (make you see, baby)
Have you used up all the love in your heart? (Oh)
Nothing left for me? Ain't there nothing left for me?

Baby come back, any kind of fool could see
There was something in everything about you
Baby come back, you can blame it all on me
'Cause I was wrong, and I just can't live without you

Baby I was wrong, and I just can't live

Baby come back