(You're) Having My Baby
{{Infobox song
| name = (You're) Having My Baby
| cover = (You're)_Having_My_Baby_-_Paul_Anka.jpg
| caption = German sleeve
| type = single
| artist = Paul Anka featuring Odia Coates
| album = Anka
| B-side = Papa
| released = June 1974 (US)
| recorded = 1974
| studio =
| venue =
| genre =
- Soft rock{{cite web|first= Robert |last= Fontenot |title= The 10 Ickiest Soft-Rock Hits of the '70s |date= February 21, 2016 |website= About.com |url= http://oldies.about.com/od/Soft-Rock/tp/The-10-Ickiest-Soft-Rock-Hits-Of-The-70s.htm |archivedate= May 7, 2016 |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20160507150130/http://oldies.about.com/od/Soft-Rock/tp/The-10-Ickiest-Soft-Rock-Hits-Of-The-70s.htm}}
- easy listening{{cite web|first= Tom |last= Breihan |title= The Number Ones: Paul Anka's "(You're) Having My Baby" (Feat. Odia Coates)|website= Stereogum |date= May 31, 2019 |url= https://www.stereogum.com/2045758/the-number-ones-paul-ankas-youre-having-my-baby-feat-odia-coates/columns/the-number-ones/|quote= And the song itself is utterly off-putting, too. It’s straight-up easy-listening dreck.|accessdate= June 19, 2023}}
| length = 2:32
| label = United Artists Records UA-XW454-W
| writer = Paul Anka
| producer = Rick Hall
| prev_title = Let Me Get to Know You
| prev_year = 1974
| next_title = One Man Woman/One Woman Man
| next_year = 1974
| misc = {{Audio sample
| type = single
| file = (You're) Having My Baby.ogg
}}
}}
"(You're) Having My Baby" is a song written and recorded in 1974 by Canadian singer Paul Anka. Recorded as a duet with female vocalist Odia Coates, the song became Anka's first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 15 years, since 1959's "Lonely Boy".
Song information
Anka, whose last chart-topping hit had been 1959's "Lonely Boy", had written the song for his wife and their four daughters while appearing at Lake Tahoe.Bronson, Fred (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. 5th ed. New York: Billboard Publications. {{ISBN|978-0-8230-7677-2}}. The song was going to be a solo effort by Anka, but the unknown Coates, whom Anka had met while on tour, was at the studio during the recording session. Upon suggestion by United Artists recording executive Bob Skaff, the song became a duet. Released in late June 1974, "(You're) Having My Baby" climbed the chart and became Anka's third No. 1 song. A follow-up single "One Man Woman/One Woman Man", reached the Top 10 in early 1975. In a 1999 interview with Barbara Walters, Monica Lewinsky confirmed that President Clinton sang this song to her before successfully seducing her in the Oval Office.
Criticism and controversy
Despite its commercial success, the song has been criticized for its maudlin sentimentalityCaramanica, Jon (2010-04-08). [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/arts/television/11caramanica.html {{"'}}Glee': Attitude, Yes, but Without a Song in Its Heart"]. The New York Times. and perceived sexist undertones, and has appeared in many "worst songs" lists. It was voted the #1 "Worst Song of All Time" in a poll conducted by CNN.com in 2006.{{cite news|author=Leopold, Todd |publisher=CNN |url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/25/worst.songs/index.html |title=The worst song of all time, part II|date=2006-04-27|accessdate=2010-08-05}}
Peter Reilly, in a February 1975 review of the album from which it originated, for what was then known as Stereo Review, stated that the song "defeats critical evaluation with the same brashly sure grasp of the popular mood as his equally dismal "Diana" of years ago. Everybody knows Anka can do better (he proved it easily with "My Way"), but he still composes and sings as if he were working on his first million and his fondest wish was an appearance on Dick Clark's show. '(You're) Having My Baby' is (really) The Worst. He grunts out the unforgettable lyrics, 'Yuh're havin' muh baybee/Whad a lovely way of sayin' how much yuh love me . . . Oh the seed inside you baybee/Do you feel it growin'?' in an Elvis-like roar while what sounds like Mantovani's orchestra swoons around him (Actually, the Johnny Harris Orchestra who also resurrected Shirley Bassey's carreer in 1970}. Yet I'll admit, dammit, that after hearing it only once I caught myself vacantly humming it, exactly as I did years ago with "Diana". All of which probably proves that Anka has some powerful natural gift of communication no matter how much one objects to the message."[https://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Audio/Archive-Stereo-Review-IDX/IDX/70s/HiFi-Stereo-Review-1975-02-OCR-Page-0086.pdf#search="paul%20anka" Popular Discs and Tapes], Stereo Review, February 1975, p. 86.
The song was also criticized for declaring the child was the man's, rather than the couple's. Anka defended his choice in a 1974 interview, saying, "it's not meant to alienate anyone. I could have called it 'having our baby', but the other just sounded better. It's not a male ego trip—my baby."{{cite journal |last1=Nolan |first1=Tom |date=1974-10-24 |title=Paul Anka: The Lonely Boy Grows Up |journal=Rolling Stone}} Anka did sometimes sing the line as "you're having our baby" while performing in concert.{{cite web|url=http://www.arleneherson.com/paul_anka_transcript.htm|title=Interview with Paul Anka|publisher=Arlene Herson|date=2005-06-25|accessdate=2010-08-05|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109011212/http://www.arleneherson.com/paul_anka_transcript.htm|archivedate=2010-01-09}} While reviewing a 2005 concert, Dan MacIntosh of PopMatters noted that while Anka had "covered most of his career highlights", he had "wisely neglected to include 'You're Having My Baby.'"{{cite web|url=http://www.popmatters.com/music/concerts/a/anka-paul-050714.shtml |title=Paul Anka|work=PopMatters|date=2005-07-22|accessdate=2010-08-05}}
Others criticized a line stating that while the woman could have "swept it from [her] life" (a euphemism for having an abortion, which had recently been legalized across the United States through the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling), she had not because it was "a wonderful way of showing how much she loves him".{{cite news|last1=Proulx |first1=Brenda Zosky|date=1982-08-13|title=Paul Anka has a dark side - but he won't talk about it |work=The Gazette|location=Montreal|page=E-7|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19820813&id=-Y0kAAAAIBAJ&pg=1287,2321802}} In response, Anka said the song was "a love song". He also explained in 1974, "what I'm saying in the song is that there is a choice. The libbers will get on me; I can't help that. I am into the antihuman thing, and I do understand the other side of it. There are those who can't cope, and it's not in the cards for them to have kids. I'm a libber myself, in the sense that ... if you've got to abort, you do. Some people just can't cope."
The National Organization for Women gave Anka (and, for the unrelated album Unborn Child, Seals and Crofts) the "Keep Her in Her Place" award during "its annual putdown of male chauvinism" in the media on Women's Equality Day.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,904110-2,00.html#ixzz0l9J4iEhj |title=People, Sep. 9, 1974 |magazine=Time |date=1974-09-09 |accessdate=2010-08-05 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100818012042/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C904110-2%2C00.html |archivedate=18 August 2010 |url-status=dead}} Ms. magazine "awarded" Anka their "Male Chauvinistic Pig of the Year" award.Buck, Jerry (1986-02-20). [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=19860220&id=JA4QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=nYsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4662,3733510 "Singer sets sights off the road"]. The Free Lance-Star. Associated Press (Fredericksburg, VA).
Chart performance
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Sunday Sharpe version
Around the same time "(You're) Having My Baby" was climbing the Hot 100, female country vocalist Sunday Sharpe recorded a cover version called "I'm Having Your Baby." With lyrics altered to the female perspective, "I'm Having Your Baby" peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in October 1974.Whitburn, Joel (2006). Joel Whitburn's Top Country Songs, 1944–2005. Menomonee Falls, WI: Record Research. {{ISBN|978-0-89820-165-9}}
See also
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{YouTube|umrzGr_etQw|Paul Anka - (You're) Having My Baby}}
- {{YouTube|_0u8trdP1Ac|Sunday Sharpe - I'm Having Your Baby}}
{{Paul Anka}}
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Category:Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
Category:Cashbox number-one singles
Category:Songs written by Paul Anka
Category:Canadian soft rock songs
Category:Male–female vocal duets
Category:United Artists Records singles