Baby Come Back – Player | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#1) & Adult Contemporary (#20) ; 1978
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
Sandwiched between chart-toppers How Deep Is Your Love and Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees, the first new #1 of 1978 was Baby Come Back by Player. Group members Peter Beckett and John Charles Crowley knocked off Baby in just a few hours over two nights of songwriting: a process aided, no doubt, by recent breakups with their respective girlfriends.
Rehearsals proceeded in John’s uncooled garage during a steamy Los Angeles heat wave. Then, just as the group finished recording an album’s worth of tunes, their record label went under. Label owners Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter – who believed in the song – negotiated its release with RSO Records.
Baby Come Back rewarded their faith, topping the chart during its 32 week run, the longest of any single in 1978. Incidentally, Baby Come Back was the second of six consecutive #1’s from RSO for a total 17 weeks at the top.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Dennis Lambert
- Brian Potter
Lyrics Written by:
- Peter Beckett
- J.C. Crowley
Award:
Top 40 Weekly Top Songs of the 70s Chart Position: #38
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).