Doo Wop Classics

The song was written by Ben E. King, Lover Patterson, George Treadwell, and the famous duo of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. (Leiber and Stoller produced the record as well.) In 1959, The Drifters had a hit with “There Goes My Baby.” It went to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard R&B Chart and the Cash Box Sales Chart.

There were — and still are — so many iterations of  The Drifters, it’s difficult to keep up.  Anyway, this song was a new approach for The Drifters. Ben E. King was on lead and there were other new members, including Charlie Thomas, Dock Green, and Elsbeary Hobbs. The song features a prominent string arrangement. On the recording, there were Stoller on piano, King Curtis on sax, Wendell Marshall on bass, and Sticks Evans on drums and timpani.

Here are the lyrics to “There Goes My Baby” by The Drifters:

“There goes my baby, movin’ on down the line
Wonder where, wonder where, wonder where she is bound?
I broke her heart and made her cry
Now I’m alone, so all alone
What can I do, what can I do?

(There goes my baby) Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh
(There goes my baby) Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
(There she goes) Yeah! (There she goes)

I wanna know if she loved me
Did she really love me?
Was she just playing me for a fool?

I wonder why she left me
Why did she leave me so all alone
So all alone

I was gonna tell her that I loved her
And that I need her
Beside my side to be my guide

I wanna know where is my (doo-doot-doo-doo-doo-doo)
Where is my baby (doo-doot-doo-doo-doo-doo) ?
I want my baby
I need my baby

Yeah, whoa-oh-oh
(There goes my baby)
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh”

For other songs by The Drifters: “This Magic Moment,” “Save the Last Dance for Me,” “Up on the Roof,” and “Under the Boardwalk.”

For More Golden Oldies Music                

The Daily Doo Wop Rec Room has daily featured doo wop, rock and roll, R&B, or rockabilly songs that were hits during the first era of rock and roll (that is, from about 1952 until the British invasion in 1964). After a song is featured, it then goes into the juke box. You are welcome to listen to any of the 40+ selections there. Every weekend, there is a Golden Oldies Juke Box Saturday Night, and the juke box is full of song requests from the 1950s and 1960s.

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