Rex Griffin - Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby

First performance: 06/02/1998


Coverinfo

Bruce performed the song only once:
 
 
1998-02-06 Tradewinds, Sea Bright, NJ
 
The song was played during a guest appearence of Bruce with Steve Earle and the Dukes
 
 
 
 

Songinfo

"Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" is a rockabilly song credited to Carl Perkins. Based on a 1934 song written by singer/songwriter Rex Griffin, it achieved widespread popularity when it was released in 1957 by Carl Perkins and covered by the Beatles in 1964. It borrows from a song with the same title, chorus and verses written in the mid-1930s by Alabama-born country songwriter Rex Griffin. Griffin recorded the song for Decca Records in 1936 under the title "Everybody's Tryin' To Be My Baby". Roy Newman and His Boys recorded a song with the same title in 1938. Perkins recorded his song with the same title with similar music but an updated arrangement in 1956 for Sun Records. The Perkins song was featured on the 1957 Sun LP Dance Album of Carl Perkins, which was also released in the UK on London. The Beatles' recording, the best-known version of the song, is attributed to Carl Perkins. Lyrically, the Perkins and Griffin songs are similar, but musically, the arrangement is more modern. The melody, later used in Rock Around the Clock, was also borrowed by Hank Williams for Move It On Over and Mind Your Own Business. The Carl Perkins song is more blues-based and closer to "Blue Suede Shoes" in style. After 1964, the Carl Perkins song became well known in the version recorded by the Beatles. The Beatles recorded "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" on 18 October 1964 at EMI Studios, London, with George Harrison (a lifelong fan of Perkins) on vocals.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Bruce on the artist

Lyrics

Well, they took some honey from a tree
Dressed it up and they called it me
Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby, now
I woke up last night, half past four
Fifteen women knocking on my door
Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby, now
Went out last night, didn't stay late
Before home I had nineteen dates
Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby, now
I woke up last night, half past four
Fifteen women knocking at my door
Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby, now
Well, they took some honey from a tree
Dressed it up and they called it me
Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby, now