Baby Come Back (Player song)

"Baby Come Back" is a song by the British-American rock band Player. It was released in late 1977 as the lead single from their 1977 self-titled debut album, and was the breakthrough single for the band, gaining them mainstream success, hitting #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 for the three consecutive weeks of January 14, 21 and 28, 1978 and #10 on the R&B charts in 1978.[4] Their biggest hit single, the song was written and performed by Peter Beckett and J.C. Crowley, the founders of Player.

"Baby Come Back"
Side A of the US single
Single by Player
from the album Player
B-side"Love Is Where You Find It"
ReleasedOctober 13, 1977 (1977-10-13)
Recorded1977
Genre
Length
  • 3:28 (Single Version)
  • 4:15 (Album Version)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Player singles chronology
"Baby Come Back"
(1977)		 "This Time I'm in It for Love"
(1977)
Alternative image
Side A of the UK single
Side A of the UK single

As reported on the American Top 40 replay broadcast of November 5, 1977, "Baby Come Back" was written after two of the band members had broken up with their girlfriends.

Personnel
additional personnel

Cover versions

In 1980, the song was covered by O.C. Smith.

Lisa Stansfield, in 1997, released the song as a bonus track on the Japanese version of her self-titled album.

Singer Pianist Joe Mcbride covered his version from his album "Double Take" in 1998.

Alternative rock band Lazlo Bane, in 2007, covered the song for their covers album Guilty Pleasures.[5]

In 2018, Australian band Ocean Alley included it as part of the "Like a Version" segment on the Australian radio station Triple J. The cover reached #16 on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2018 and was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA).[6]

Uses in other media

In 2008, the song was used in a commercial for a cleaning product called the[7]Swiffer WetJet.

In 2011, it was the source of a parody by Chicago artist, Magic 1, entitled "Cutty Come Back", which alludes to the Chicago Bears' woes without quarterback Jay Cutler.[8][9]

The song is also used in the Michael Bay blockbuster Transformers, when the Autobot Bumblebee communicates with its new owner Sam Witwicky through songs on the radio. In this case, after an incident with the girl he is attracted to, Mikaela, gets out of the car and Sam tries to persuade her to "come back". The lyrics of the song are expected to accomplish this desire, as laid out by the filmmakers, though it is unlikely given the context that she would actually come back anyway.

Actress/singer Vanessa Hudgens sampled the song for her 2006 debut single "Come Back to Me", from her debut album V.

In The Simpsons episode "Homer Alone", when Homer calls the "Department of Missing Babies" after losing Maggie, the hold music is a newly recorded version of the song, by Peter Beckett and J.C. Crowley.

This song was sung by Hank Hill and Elroy "Lucky" Kleinschmidt in the Point After Lounge in the "Church Hopping" episode of King of the Hill.

The song was sung by Steve Smith (Scott Grimes) in the American Dad! episode "The Unbrave One".

In a May 2014 episode of General Hospital, precocious Spencer Cassadine attempted to woo back Emma Scorpio-Drake by hiring Player to perform the song at the Nurses Ball. Spencer's great-grandmother Lesley Webber was supposedly a groupie of the band in the 1970s.

In 2016, Peter Beckett performed a parody "Brady Come Back" on The Herd with Colin Cowherd about the return of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady from suspension.

In 2018, rapper Yung Gravy sampled the song in his single "Cheryl".

In 2022, this song is played in the movie Black Adam.

Chart performance

References
  1. "200 Greatest Soft Rock Songs".
  2. Breihan, Tom (November 27, 2019). "The Number Ones: Player's "Baby Come Back"". Stereogum. Retrieved July 4, 2023. Yacht rock was not a genre...But the music itself was just sitting there, begging to be reclassified. Songs like Player's "Baby Come Back" never really belonged to any particular genre, but they very much belong to their era.
  3. Smith, Troy L. (14 December 2021). "Every No. 1 song of the 1970s ranked from worst to best". Cleveland.com. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  4. Billboard Hot 100, Week of January 28, 1978 – Billboard.com. Retrieved June 29, 2023.
  5. "Lazlo Bane's Guilty Pleasures". cdbaby.com. Retrieved 2017-01-10.
  6. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2020 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  7. Baby Come Back: Swiffer WetJet - Baby Come Back
  8. Bowman, Eric (December 9, 2011). "Jay Cutler Injury Song: Listen to Epic Slow Jam "Cutty Come Back"". bleacherreport.com. Bleacher Report. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  9. "'Cutty come back': Parody bemoans Cutler's absence". Chicago Tribune. 2011-12-08.
  10. Steffen Hung. "Forum - 1970 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on 2016-06-02. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
  11. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 5533a." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  12. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1978-01-14. Retrieved 2020-05-14.
  13. "Player – Baby Come Back" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  14. "Nederlandse Top 40 – Player" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  15. "Player – Baby Come Back". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  16. "Springbok SA Top 20". Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  17. "Player: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  18. "Player Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  19. "Player Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  20. "Player Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved October 8, 2017.
  21. "Kent Music Report No 236 – 1 January 1979 > National Top 100 Singles for 1978". Kent Music Report. Retrieved 8 January 2022 – via Imgur.com.
  22. "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
  23. "Top 100 Hits of 1978/Top 100 Songs of 1978". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
  24. "Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 10 December 2018.

Bibliography
  • Joel Whitburn's Presents Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004, 2004, Record Research Inc., ISBN 978-0898201604
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