Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby

Song facts

From Wikipedia:

“Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby” is a rockabilly song credited to Carl Perkins. Based on a 1934 song written by singer/songwriter Rex Griffin, it achieved widespread popularity when it was released in 1956 by Carl Perkins and covered by the Beatles in 1964.

Background

“Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby” borrows from a song with the same title, chorus and verses written in the mid-1930s by Alabama-born country songwriter Rex Griffin. Griffin recorded the song for Decca Records in 1936 with the title “Everybody’s Tryin’ to Be My Baby”. Perkins recorded his song with the same title with similar music but an updated arrangement in 1956 for Sun Records. Lyrically, the Perkins and Griffin songs are similar, but musically, the arrangement is more modern. The melody, later used in “Rock Around the Clock”, was also borrowed by Hank Williams for “Move It On Over” and “Mind Your Own Business”. The Carl Perkins song is more blues-based and closer to “Blue Suede Shoes” in style.

The recording was re-released on the 1961 Sun Records album Teen Beat: The Best of Carl Perkins, Carl Perkins’ Original Golden Hits by Sun International in 1969, Original Sun Greatest Hits by Rhino Records in 1986, Blues Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session, and on a Rhino Records CD EP Lil’ Bit of Gold in 1988.

The Beatles’ version

The Beatles recorded “Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby” on October 18, 1964, at EMI Studios, London, with George Harrison (a lifelong fan of Perkins) on vocals. Harrison’s vocals were heavily processed with the STEED effect. It was first released as the final track on Beatles for Sale in the United Kingdom later that year, and likewise as the concluding track on the North American album Beatles ’65.

The Beatles’ recording finishes with a false ending, with the final phrase repeating itself after the song seems to have stopped. A version recorded live at the Star-Club in Hamburg in December 1962 contained four of these musical phrases.

Live performances of the Beatles’ “Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby” were recorded in June 1963 for the BBC radio program Pop Go The Beatles, and in November 1964 for Saturday Club. The latter recording can be heard on Live at the BBC.

The Beatles continued to perform the song after their studio recording was released. The song was performed in Paris, France in 1965. The performance recorded at Shea Stadium on August 15, 1965, was included on Anthology 2.

In 1976, Capitol released the song on the compilation album Rock ‘n’ Roll Music. […]

In 2016, the song was featured as a bonus track on the remastered Live at the Hollywood Bowl album in a live performance from August 30, 1965 in conjunction with the release of the Ron Howard concert film The Beatles: Eight Days a Week. […]

From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations:

[a] mono 21 Oct 1964
UK: Parlophone PMC 1240 For Sale 1964.
US: Capitol T 2228 Beatles ’65 1964.
CD: EMI CDP 7 46438 2 For Sale 1987.

[b] stereo 4 Nov 1964
UK: Parlophone PCS 3062 For Sale 1964.
US: Capitol ST 2228 Beatles ’65 1964.

Last updated on May 9, 2021

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