Baby Baby (Amy Grant song)

The music was written by Keith Thomas. Grant always knew the song would be a smash hit, and was begging Thomas to write the song. He agreed with the only condition that the song's title must be "Baby Baby". Grant had a hard time writing the lyrics, because her early attempts to write a romantic-sounding lyric to a song with such title came off sounding like "some overgrown football jock with no vocabulary trying desperately to be romantic". But one day, after having seen her six-week-old daughter Millie, she said to herself: "Oh, baby baby". As a result, the lyrics were written in about ten minutes in her kitchen. In the Heart in Motion booklet are the words: This song is dedicated to Millie, whose six-week-old face was my inspiration. Millie would also appear on stage during Grant's performance at the 34th Grammy Awards.

{{Listen

| filename=Amy Grant - Baby Baby.ogg

| title="Baby Baby"

| description=The first 32 seconds of Amy Grant's "Baby Baby"

| format=Ogg

}}

The song is almost four minutes in length and is composed in the key of F-sharp major, set in the time signature of {{music|time|4|4}} common time with a moderate tempo of 98 beats per minute. In the middle of the song, the key is changed to A-flat major, then for a short amount of time goes back to F{{sharp}} major and finally ends with A{{flat}} major. Grant's vocal range spans from F₃ to D♯₅.{{Cite web|url=https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0052923|title=Baby Baby|last1=Amy|first1=Grant|last2=Keith|first2=Thomas|date=July 24, 2006|website=Musicnotes.com|access-date=April 1, 2020|last3=Amy|first3=Grant|last4=Tori|first4=Kelly}}{{Cite web|url=https://tunebat.com/Info/Baby-Baby-Amy-Grant/42T9a9H2rm7kKRULZI6222|title=Key & BPM for Baby, Baby by Amy Grant {{!}} Tunebat|website=tunebat.com|access-date=April 1, 2020}}

The song consists of three verses that are interrupted by a bridge, "'Stop for a minute, baby I'm so glad you're mine". Lyrically, the song praises that special someone and expresses love that started since the day her heart was "put in motion". The chorus is the source of the album's title: "And ever since the day you put my heart in motion, baby I realized that there's just no gettin' over you". It fades out with the lyrics:

{{poemquote|1=

Don't stop givin' love

Don't stop, no

(Baby I'm so glad)

Glad that you're mine

Baby I'm glad

}}

Pan-European magazine Music & Media wrote, "New single from the lady who brought us the 1988 hit single "Lead Me On", which is also featured on this. She still sounds grand on this danceable pop tune."{{cite magazine|first=|last=|title=New Releases: Singles|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1991/MM-1991-04-13.pdf|magazine=Music & Media|date=April 13, 1991|page=12|accessdate=December 11, 2022}} In their review of the Heart in Motion album, Music & Media complimented "Baby Baby" as "heavenly".{{cite magazine|first=|last=|title=New Releases: Albums|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1991/MM-1991-04-27.pdf|magazine=Music & Media|date=April 27, 1991|page=12|accessdate=December 11, 2022}}

"Baby Baby" was Amy Grant's biggest hit since her 1986 duet with Peter Cetera, "The Next Time I Fall". In the United States, "Baby Baby" became Grant's second number-one hit on the pop charts and her first as a solo artist, topping the Billboard Hot 100 (replacing Wilson Phillips' "You're in Love" from the top spot) and Adult Contemporary charts for two and three weeks, respectively. It also made Grant the first Christian pop singer to have a number-one single in the United States. The single reached the Top Ten in ten countries, in addition to reaching No. 11 in Switzerland. In the United Kingdom, "Baby Baby" was the singer's first (and only) Top Five hit in that country, reaching No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart. "Baby Baby" went on to become Grant's biggest hit single and one of the most successful singles of 1991.

File:AmyGrantBabyVideo.PNG|date=April 29, 2016|access-date=May 10, 2019}}]]

The accompanying music video for "Baby Baby" was directed by D.J. Webster. and edited by Scott C. Wilson.

According to Webster, the video's main idea was to create a picture of the relationship that everybody wants. Grant added, "I think when you get film where there is a good sense of humor and mutual respect and people are just having a good time, everybody wants a piece of that". Its beginning features Grant receiving attention from other men, and her staying loyal to her lover, portrayed by model Jme Stein (who also appeared in her other video from that album "Good for Me"). At some point Stein is seen singing along with Grant and at the end lip-syncing to the words "Baby I'm so glad". The rest of the video is all about the couple having fun together.

The video first aired in March 1991, although MTV didn't air it until it had become too popular not to. A music critic J.D. Considine praised the video, writing that "the Baby Baby clip defines the way most of us imagine her. It was hardly typical video fare, with no special effects or distant locales; all it offered was Grant and a good-looking guy cavorting and acting pretty as she lip-synced to the song. Yet there was something genuinely appealing about the image it conveyed, something that made viewers want to see the thing again". It received a nomination for Best Female Video at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards, but lost to Janet Jackson's "Love Will Never Do".

It's available on the 1992 music video tape The Heart in Motion Video Collection and 2004 music video DVD Greatest Videos 1986-2004. A live performance is available on the 2006 DVD Time Again… Amy Grant Live.

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

• US retail 7-inch single and US retail cassette single

1. "Baby Baby" (LP version) - 3:56
2. "Baby Baby" (7-inch Heart in Motion mix) – 3:50

• US retail CD single

1. "Baby Baby" (7-inch Heart in Motion mix) – 3:50
2. "Baby Baby" (12-inch Heart in Motion mix) – 6:02
3. "Lead Me On" (LP version) – 5:36

• International 7-inch single and Australian CD single

1. "Baby Baby" (7-inch No Getting over You mix) – 4:01
2. "Lead Me On" – 5:36

{{col-2}}

• UK retail CD single

1. "Baby Baby" (7-inch No Getting over You mix) – 4:01
2. "Baby Baby" (12-inch Heart in Motion mix) – 6:01
3. "Lead Me On" – 5:36

• Dave Audé Remixes digital single (2014)

1. "Baby Baby" (featuring Dave Audé) [radio edit] - 3:59
2. "Baby Baby" (featuring Dave Audé) [extended mix] - 5:23
3. "Baby Baby" (featuring Dave Audé) [dub] - 4:55

{{col-end}}

Credits are adapted from the Heart in Motion booklet.{{cite AV media notes|others=Amy Grant|title=Heart in Motion|year=1991|type=Liner Notes [CD, Album]|publisher=EMI Records|id=0946 3 96796 2 1}}

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

• Amy Grant – lead vocals
• Keith Thomas – synthesizers, bass, drum programming
• Brian Tankersley – additional synthesizer programming
• Jerry McPherson – guitars
• VickI Hampton – backing vocals
• Ron Hemby – backing vocals
• Donna McElroy – backing vocals

{{col-2}}

Production

• Keith Thomas – producer, arrangements
• Todd Moore – production assistant, assistant engineer
• Bill Whittington – recording engineer
• Todd Culross – assistant engineer
• Kelly Pribble – assistant engineer
• Brian Malouf – mixing
• Pat MacDougal – mix assistant
• Daniel Abraham – additional production and remix ("Heart in Motion" 7-inch and 12-inch mixes, "No Getting over You" 7-inch and 12-inch mixes)

{{col-end}}

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-end}}

{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications and sales for "Baby Baby"}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Australia|type=single|award=Gold|relyear=1991|certyear=1991|certref=|access-date=April 12, 2019}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|type=single|artist=Amy Grant|title=Baby Baby|award=Gold|relyear=1991|id=1991-08-16|source=newchart|access-date=November 20, 2024|certyear=1991}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Amy Grant|title=Baby Baby|award=Silver|relyear=1991|certyear=1991|id=639-3721-1|access-date=September 26, 2020}}

{{Certification Table Bottom}}

The song received three Grammy nominations for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Song of the Year, but lost in both categories to Bonnie Raitt's "Something to Talk About" and Natalie Cole's "Unforgettable", respectively.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}}

Grant appeared on Monday Night Football in a promotional music video for "Baby Baby" that featured new lyrics custom-made for the night's game.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}} "Baby Baby" was covered by The Swirling Eddies on the 1996 album Sacred Cows.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/sacred-cows-mw0001214974|title=Sacred Cows|author=Mark Allender|work=AllMusic|access-date=April 19, 2016}} It was covered by Alana D on the Mr. & Mrs. Smith soundtrack.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}} It is also featured in the 2004 film Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}} It was also briefly referenced in the 30 Rock episode "Queen of Jordan" where it was derided as "white nonsense".{{citation needed|date=April 2016}} The song is referenced in Grant's 1997 Got Milk? ad.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}} The song is heard in the Only Fools and Horses episode "Miami Twice" when Del Boy and Rodney arrive in the night club they go to in Miami.{{citation needed|date=April 2016}}

Grant recorded an updated version of the song with pop artist Tori Kelly. Released on April 29, 2016, it commemorates the song's 25th anniversary.{{cite web | url=http://www.vintagevinylnews.com/2016/04/amy-grant-releasing-updated-version-of.html | title=Amy Grant Releasing Updated Version of "Baby Baby" With Tori Kelly" | publisher=Vintage Vinyl News | date=April 18, 2016}}

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite news|title=A matter of perception|first=J. D.|last=Considine|author-link=J. D. Considine|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iTEaAAAAIBAJ&pg=4478,2135153|newspaper=The Spokesman-Review|publisher=Cowles Publishing Company|date=September 4, 1994|page=6|access-date=July 8, 2011}}

{{cite news|title=Amy Grant crosses over|first=Steve|last=Morse|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/59200805.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+17%2C+1991&author=Steve+Morse%2C+Globe+Staff&pub=Boston+Globe+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Amy+Grant+crosses+over|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107100502/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/59200805.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=May+17,+1991&author=Steve+Morse,+Globe+Staff&pub=Boston+Globe+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Amy+Grant+crosses+over|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 7, 2012|newspaper=The Boston Globe|publisher=The New York Times Company|issn=0743-1791|date=May 17, 1991|access-date=July 8, 2011}}

{{cite news|title=Life is the same for Amy Grant|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NXA_AAAAIBAJ&pg=4189,4029858|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=The Mount Airy News|publisher=Heartland Publications, LLC|location=Nashville, Tennessee|date=May 14, 1991|page=11|access-date=July 8, 2011}}

{{cite news|title=Modern gospel crawls up charts|first=Larry|last=Nager|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tSxKAAAAIBAJ&pg=1308,249998|newspaper=The Vindicator|publisher=The Vindicator Printing Co.|date=August 1, 1991|page=D3|access-date=July 9, 2011}}

{{cite book|title=The Billboard Book of Number One Hits|last=Bronson|first=Fred|author-link=Fred Bronson|year=1997|publisher=Billboard Books|isbn=978-0-8230-7641-3|page=785}}}}

{{Amy Grant}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1991 songs

Category:1991 singles

Category:A&M Records singles

Category:American pop rock songs

Category:Amy Grant songs

Category:Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles

Category:Cashbox number-one singles

Category:Song recordings produced by Keith Thomas (record producer)

Category:Songs written by Amy Grant

Category:Songs written by Keith Thomas (record producer)