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Released in 1976

She's My Baby

Written by Paul McCartney • Linda McCartney

Last updated on February 21, 2014

Album This song officially appears on the Wings At The Speed Of Sound Official album.

Timeline This song was officially released in 1976

Master album

Related sessions

This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:

From Wikipedia:

“She’s My Baby” is a song credited to Paul and Linda McCartney that was first released by Wings on their 1976 album Wings at the Speed of Sound. It is a love song sung by Paul directed at Linda. Critical opinion of the song has ranged from a description as Paul McCartney’s “sweetest, daftest love song” to a suggestion that it deserves an “honor for sheer awfulness.” In 1998, after Linda’s death, Paul McCartney rearranged the song for string quartet to be played at memorial concerts for his late wife. This version was included on the 1999 album Working Classical.

“She’s My Baby” is a love song inspired by Linda. Paul McCartney sings the lead vocal. In each of the verses, the song describes characteristics of the singer’s “baby.” Some of these have been criticized as being trite; for example, the woman is described as gravy to be mopped up by the singer:

The verses are in the key of C major. The bridge begins in the key of F major, which is the subdominant key to the verses, and ends on a dominant seventh chord on G major, which is the dominant of C, facilitating the transition back to the verse. Like the hit singles from Wings at the Speed of Sound, “Let ‘Em In” and “Silly Love Songs,” the bass guitar is prominent in the mix. This was done intentionally to make the song more danceable. Paul McCartney has stated that “That is the bass in your face. And that was really because we were making a dance record.”

Critical reaction to “She’s My Baby” has been very mixed. The Rough Guide to the Beatles author Chris Ingham calls “She’s My Baby” McCartney’s “sweetest, daftest love song.” Chip Madiger and Mark Easter lament that on Wings at the Speed of Sound “She’s My Baby” is crossfaded with the following song on the album, “Beware My Love.” This limited radio play of a song they consider one of the best on the album, albeit “lightweight and jaunty.” Robert Christgau claimed that “‘She’s My Baby’ sounds like an outtake from the ‘white’ double-LP by McCartney’s former group, the Beatles.

Other critics are less kind. Reviewing Wings at the Speed of Sound, Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine states that “‘She’s My Baby’ play like the hits, only without memorable hooks.” Fab Four FAQ 2.0 author Robert Rodriguez calls the song “hackneyed” and suggests that it “must earn some kind of honor for sheer awfulness.” Music professor Vincent Benitez acknowledges that the song is “danceable,” but also calls it “superficial” and “an inane pop song with trite lyrics and images.”

In 1998, after Linda McCartney’s death, Paul McCartney rearranged the song for string quartet to be played at memorial concerts for his late wife. The Brodsky Quartet performed the song at memorial services in London, and the Loma Mar Quartet performed the song at memorial services in New York. The Loma Mar Quartet also recorded the string quartet version of the song for the 1999 album Working Classical.

Lyrics

My baby, she comes out at night

She’s taking me by surprise

She’s my baby

Like gravy, down to the last drop

I keep mopping her up

Oh yeah, she’s my baby

She’s a baby in the morning time

When the sleep is in her eyes

Then the world is waking up

She has arisen

Oh believe me, I ain’t lyin’

She’s a woman

She’s the lady of the evening tide

When the stars are in the skies

That’s the time she changes

Back into a kitten,

Oh believe me, I ain’t lyin’

She’s my baby

She comes out at night

She’s taking me by surprise

She’s my baby

Like gravy, down to the last drop

I keep mopping her up

Yeah, yeah, yeah, she’s my baby

Well, she’s a baby in the morning time

When the sleep is in her eyes

And the world is waking her up

She has arisen

Oh believe me, I ain’t lyin’

She’s a woman

She’s the lady of the evening tide

When the stars are in the skies

That’s the time she changes

Back into a kitten

Oh believe me, I ain’t lyin’

She’s my baby, she comes out at night

She’s taking me by surprise

Yeah, she’s my baby

Oh, like gravy, down to the last drop,

I keep mopping it up, mopping it up

Yeah, she’s my baby

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

See all bootlegs containing “She's My Baby”

Live performances

Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.

Going further

Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989

With 25 albums of pop music, 5 of classical – a total of around 500 songs – released over the course of more than half a century, Paul McCartney's career, on his own and with Wings, boasts an incredible catalogue that's always striving to free itself from the shadow of The Beatles. The stories behind the songs, demos and studio recordings, unreleased tracks, recording dates, musicians, live performances and tours, covers, events: Music Is Ideas Volume 1 traces McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1970 to 1989 in the form of 346 song sheets, filled with details of the recordings and stories behind the sessions. Accompanied by photos, and drawing on interviews and contemporary reviews, this reference book draws the portrait of a musical craftsman who has elevated popular song to an art-form.

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