“Baby, I Love You”
“Baby, I Love You”
The first thing I did after waking up from a twelve-hour operation on my neck was to vomit into a plastic bag (a normal reaction to all the anesthetic, I was told). I was semi-delirious on a gurney. The next thing I did was feebly sing the chorus to the song “Baby, I Love You” by the Ronettes[1] to my nurse Shannon, to whom I had just been introduced. I had been working on the song the previous week and it popped into my mind as I regained consciousness (along with my usual anger). They wheeled me up to the recovery room with an array of tubes poking out of me, including a catheter. I had the distinct feeling of not-being-dead. It was 9pm (I had arrived at the hospital at 6am with my girlfriend Morella). There was no way I was going to sleep that night, except fitfully. The song kept going through my head. I asked Shannon if she knew it and she played it on her phone. I was still memorizing the lyrics and would sing parts of the song to her throughout the night and the next day. It got me through the ordeal and she knew that. Whenever I sing that song now (this was two years ago) I think of that recovery room, and Shannon, and vomiting into a plastic bag.
[1] Amazingly, a cover of it was made by the Ramones, but the original is much better. Opening lines: “Have I ever told you, how good it feels to hold you? It isn’t easy to explain”.
I first listened to the Ramones version of that song and loved it. I had no idea it was a cover. Having just now listened to the Ronettes original, I agree it is significantly better. The only other song I know by the Ronettes is “Be my Baby”, which I love. Do you like the Velvet Underground at all? One of my favorite rock songs of all time is “Pale Blue Eyes”.
I also like the Ramones version, but not as stirring as the Ronettes. It’s a good song to learn to sing. The Velvets were lost on me, as was almost everything during that period.