Yes Sir, That's My Baby (song)

"Yes Sir, That's My Baby" is a popular U.S. song from 1925. The music was written by Walter Donaldson and the lyrics by Gus Kahn.

"Yes Sir, That's My Baby"
Song
Written	1925
Composer(s)	Walter Donaldson
Lyricist(s)	Gus Kahn

Background

Opening line of the chorus: "Yes sir, that's my ba - by, no sir, don't mean may - be, Yes sir, that's my ba - by now...."

According to one source, the song was written when Donaldson and Kahn were visiting Eddie Cantor. Cantor's daughter Marjorie brought out one of her favorite toys, a walking mechanical pig. She wound it up and it started walking in rhythm while two notes kept coming from the little creature. Kahn was inspired and started working lyrics to these notes in rhythm with the pig, coming up with the title and opening line of the chorus in short order.[1]

1925 recordings

It was introduced by Margaret Young and other successful recordings in 1925 were by:

• Ace Brigode
• Gene Austin
• Blossom Seeley
• Ben Bernie
• Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra (vocal by Carleton Coon).[2]
• Lee Morse

Later recordings

The song has become a standard that has been recorded by over 100 artists in genres from jazz to rock, marimba and country. Among the later recordings:

• Eddie Cantor recorded the song in 1930.
• Harry Stewart's mock-Japanese novelty cover of the song earned a notorious reputation as one of the worst records ever made upon its release in 1953.[3] Although, some define the recording as a stylized Japanese parody.
• Bing Crosby recorded the song in 1956[4] for use on his radio show and it was subsequently included in the box set The Bing Crosby CBS Radio Recordings (1954-56) issued by Mosaic Records (catalog MD7-245) in 2009.[5]
• Also in 1956, The Sensations reached #15 on the Best Sellers in Stores chart.[6]
• It was later a hit for Ricky Nelson in 1960. This recording reached #34 on the Hot 100.[7]
• It's the opening track on Etta Jones' Don't Go to Strangers (1960).
• Frank Sinatra recorded it in 1966 for his Strangers in the Night LP.
• James Booker covered the song on his album Classified: Remixed & Expanded.[8]

International re-recordings

• A Yiddish version entitled "Yes Sir, Iz May Kalleh" (Yes Sir, That's My Bride) was recorded by Peisachke Burstein. In German, the song was titled "Küss' mich, Schnucki-Putzi".
• The song was also sung by Jason Robards and Barry Gordon in the 1965 feature film A Thousand Clowns.[9]
• Bram Morrison and young singer Debbie Fruitman sing together on Sharon, Lois & Bram's album One Elephant, Deux Éléphants.[10]
• The song was sung in Italian by Duo Fasano (Fasano sisters duo)[11] and the famous Italian singer Raffaella Carrà in 1973. The song was titled "Lola" and talks about a girl (Lola) that the singer is convincing to dance the Charleston.[12]
• It was also remade by a Czech group Verona in 2011 with completely new lyrics and named "Hey Boy", becoming a holiday hit on local radio stations. Czech and Slovak listeners know the song from the traffic-information program "Pozor, zákruta" (Watch out, turning), which has been broadcast since 1966 by Czechoslovak Radio, which took the instrumental version of that song as its signature.[13] With older Czech lyrics titled "Že se nestydíte" by Jan Werich this song was performed by the Karel Vlach orchestra in the Rokoko theatre (Prague, 1963).[14]
• The Swedish band Onkel Kånkel recorded a version of the song called "Spetälske Leffe" (Leprous Leffe) for their 1990 album Kalle Anka Suger Pung.
• The song's title is the name of a spaceship in the John Scalzi book The Collapsing Empire, often referred to as "the Yes, Sir".

Film appearances

• 1942 Broadway
• 1944 Once Upon a Time – played often throughout the film
• 1949 Yes Sir, That's My Baby – sung during the montage with the kids.
• 1951 I'll See You in My Dreams
• 1953 The Eddie Cantor Story – sung by Eddie in the Midnight Frolics
• 1965 A Thousand Clowns – sung and played on ukuleles by Jason Robards and Barry Gordon.
• 1974 The Great Gatsby
• 1975 Smile – sung by Michael Chain
• 1979 Agatha
• 1986 Heartburn – performed by Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson.
• 1998 Dancing at Lughnasa

References

1. Yes Sir, That's My Baby by Eddie Cantor Songfacts
2. Whitburn, Joel (1986). Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954. Wisconsin, USA: Record Research Inc. p. 615. ISBN 0-89820-083-0.
3. Ewald, William (1953-06-08). "Song Writers Guarantee New Record Worst". Oxnard Press-Courier. United Press. p. 9. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
4. "A Bing Crosby Discography". BING magazine. International Club Crosby. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
5. "allmusic.com". allmusic.com. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
6. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 516.
7. Whitburn, Joel (2013). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012. Record Research. p. 605.
8. James Booker: Classified Remixed & Expanded, Rounder, 2013-10-15, retrieved 2018-09-17
9. That's My Baby - YouTube.
10. Yes Sir, You're My Baby by Sharon, Lois, and Bram on YouTube.
11. Lola, Duo Fasano on YouTube.
12. Lola, Italian version lyric.
13. Tenkrát v rozhlase - 1966
14. Darek Vostřel & Jiří Šašek - Že se nestydíte [1963 Vinyl Records 45rpm] on YouTube.

External links

• "Yes Sir, That's My Baby", Lee Morse (Pathe 1949, 1925)—Internet Archive.