My Babe

---

title: "My Babe" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1955-songs", "little-walter-songs", "songs-written-by-willie-dixon", "blues-songs", "checker-records-singles", "ike-&-tina-turner-songs"] description: "Blues standard first recorded by Little Walter" topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Babe" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Blues standard first recorded by Little Walter ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox song"]

Field	Value
name	My Babe
cover	My Babe Little Walter.jpg
type	single
artist	Little Walter
B-side	Thunder Bird
released
recorded	January 25, 1955
genre	R&B, Chicago blues
length
label	Checker
writer	Willie Dixon
producer	Leonard Chess, Phil Chess
prev_title	Last Night
prev_year	1954
next_title	Roller Coaster
next_year	1955
::

| name = My Babe | cover = My Babe Little Walter.jpg | alt = | type = single | artist = Little Walter | album = | B-side = Thunder Bird | released = | recorded = January 25, 1955 | studio = | venue = | genre = R&B, Chicago blues | length = | label = Checker | writer = Willie Dixon | producer = Leonard Chess, Phil Chess | prev_title = Last Night | prev_year = 1954 | next_title = Roller Coaster | next_year = 1955 "My Babe" is a Chicago blues song and a blues standard written by Willie Dixon for Little Walter. Released in 1955 on Checker Records, a subsidiary of Chess Records, the song was the only Dixon composition ever to become a number one R&B single and it was one of the biggest hits of either of their careers.

Background

Willie Dixon based "My Babe" on the traditional gospel song "This Train (Is Bound For Glory)", recorded by Sister Rosetta Tharpe as "This Train". | last = Herzhaft | first = Gerard | encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of the Blues | section = My Babe | year = 1992 | location = Fayetteville, Arkansas | publisher = University of Arkansas Press | isbn = 1-55728-252-8 | page = 463 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofbl00herzh/page/463

Recording

In his autobiography, Dixon recalled: ::quote I felt Little Walter had the feeling for this "My Babe" song. He was the type of fellow who wanted to brag about some chick, somebody he loved, something he was doing or getting away with. He fought it for two long years and I wasn't going to give the song to nobody but him. ::

He said many times he just didn't like it but, by 1955, the Chess people had gained confidence enough in me that they felt if I wanted him to do it, it must be his type of thing. The minute he did it, BOOM! she went right to the top of the charts.}}

Little Walter recorded the song on January 25, 1955. Accompanying his vocal and harmonica were Robert Lockwood, Jr. and Leonard Caston on guitars, Willie Dixon on double-bass, and Fred Below on drums. Guitarist Luther Tucker, then a member of Walter's band, was absent from the recording session that day. "My Babe" was re-issued in 1961 with an overdubbed female vocal backing chorus and briefly crossed over to the pop charts.

Releases and charts

Ray Charles had famously, and controversially, pioneered the gospel-song-to-secular-song approach with his reworking of the gospel hymn "It Must Be Jesus" into "I Got a Woman," which hit the Billboard R&B charts on January 22, 1955, later climbing to the number one position for one week. Within days of the appearance of Charles's song on the national charts, Little Walter recorded "My Babe" and Checker released it while "I've Got a Woman" was still on the charts. The single eclipsed Charles's record by spending 19 weeks on the Billboard R&B charts beginning on March 12, 1955, including five weeks at the top position, making it one of the biggest R&B hits of 1955. The B-side of "My Babe" was the harmonica instrumental "Thunderbird," following the pattern established by the release of Little Walter's number one hit single from 1952, "Juke," of featuring a vocal performance ("Can't Hold On Much Longer") on one side and a harmonica instrumental on the flip side.

Recognition and influence

In 2008, "My Babe" was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in the "Classic of Blues Recording – Singles or Album Tracks" category. | url = https://blues.org/blues_hof_inductee/my-babe-little-walter-checker-1955/ | author = Blues Foundation | title = 2008 Hall of Fame Inductees: My Babe – Little Walter (Checker, 1955) | website = The Blues Foundation | date = November 10, 2016 | access-date = February 7, 2007 | last1 = Dixon | first1 = Willie | authorlink1 = Willie Dixon | last2 = Snowden | first2 = Don | title = I Am the Blues | location = New York City | publisher = Da Capo Press | year = 1989 | isbn = 0-306-80415-8 | page = 248 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/iamblueswilliedi00dixo

References

References

1. Dirks, Scott; & Komara, Edward M. [ed.] (2006). ''Encyclopedia of the Blues''. [[Routledge]]. p. 982. {{ISBN. 0-415-92699-8
2. "Show 4 - The Tribal Drum: The rise of rhythm and blues. [Part 2]".
3. Obrecht, Jas. (2000). ''Rollin' and Tumblin': The Postwar Blues Guitarists''. Backbeat Books p. 179. {{ISBN. 0-87930-613-0
4. Whitburn, Joel. (2004). "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004". Record Research.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::