Tag: I Got You Babe

Movie Music Monday – Groundhog Day

I’m sure that it is pure coincidence, but you know I had to take advantage of the fact that Movie Music Monday falls on Groundhog Day. I bet you I don’t even have to tell you what song is featured today, because it has kind of become a Groundhog Day tradition.

I don’t know very many people who have not seen Groundhog Day. If you are not familiar with it, Bill Murray is in Pennsylvania for the annual Groundhog Day festivities. Murray’s character is awakened to “I Got You Babe” by Sonny and Cher every morning at precisely 6:00 a.m. on the alarm clock in his hotel room. He relives the day over and over again. The movie grew a cult of fans that watched it every February 2, giving it a foothold in the popular culture

From Songfacts:

Sonny Bono was an up-and-coming record producer when he got Cher a job with Phil Spector as a session singer. They started dating and moved in to their manager’s house, where Bono would write songs on a piano in the garage. He came up with “I Got You Babe” and wrote the lyrics on a piece of cardboard.

Cher didn’t like it at first. She recalled to Billboard magazine: “Sonny woke me up in the middle of the night to come in where the piano was, in the living room, and sing it. And I didn’t like it and just said, ‘OK, I’ll sing it and then I’m going back to bed.'”

Sonny changed the key in the bridge to fit her voice and she loved it.

Fun Fact: Bob Dylan’s use of the word “Babe” in his 1964 song ” It Ain’t Me Babe” gave Sonny Bono the idea to use it in this song.

They last performed this together in 1987 on David Letterman’s show. They didn’t expect to sing, but Dave kept encouraging them until they did the song. Sonny and Cher put their differences aside and gave a touching performance. That was the last time they performed it together live, however, when Cher started her Las Vegas residency in 2017, she began performing this song as a virtual duet to a projection of Sonny.

1987 on Letterman

Tune Tuesday – Dark Lady

Cher is celebrating her 79th birthday today. She gained fame as half of the duo Sonny & Cher in 1965. Their hits included I Got You Babe and The Beat Goes On. In the 1970’s she appeared on TV in The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour and her own show, Cher.

Fun Fact: Cher is the only solo artist to have number one songs on the US Billboard Charts in seven consecutive decades (1960’s – 2020’s)!

She not only found success with music, but she had success as an actress, too. Her films include, Silkwood, Mask, Suspect, The Witches of Eastwick, Moonstruck, and Mermaids.

She had many hits in the 1970’s including Gypsies Tramps and Thieves, Half Breed, and Dark Lady. Dark Lady is a song that always reminds me a bit of Delilah by Tom Jones because of the subject matter – the discovery (and murder) of a cheating partner.

The song was written by Johnny Durrill. He was in the Five Americans and the Ventures and is known for his keyboard playing and songwriting. He says that he submitted it to Cher’s producer, Snuff Garrett, who had some definitive feedback.

“When I was on tour in Japan with the Ventures, I was writing an interesting song,” Durrill explained. “I telegraphed the unfinished lyrics to Garrett. He said to ‘make sure the bitch kills him.’ Hence, in the song both the lover and fortune teller were killed. That song became ‘Dark Lady’ which Cher cut; it went to #1 in 1974.”

According to Durrill, everyone but Cher knew they had a hit on their hands. He said: “Everybody knew it was a hit the minute they heard Cher’s vocal on the playback, though she didn’t particularly like it.”

In 1991, Cher expressed how she felt about the song to Vox:

“‘Dark Lady’ was a pain in the ass because there was no place to take a breath – there were so many words in that stupid song!”

Happy Birthday, Cher!