"Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" is a rockabilly song often credited to
Carl Perkins. Based on a 1936 song written by singer/songwriter
Rex Griffin
Alsie "Rex" Griffin ( – ) was an American country musician and songwriter.
Biography
Early years
Griffin was born in Gadsden, Alabama as the second of seven children to Marion and Selma Griffin. He grew up on a farm and received little scho ...
, it achieved widespread popularity when it was released in 1957 by Perkins and covered by
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
in 1964.
Composition and Controversy
"Everybody's Tryin' to Be My Baby" was written and recorded in 1936 by Decca artist Rex Griffin. On March 2, 1936 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, it was among ten self-penned tracks recorded that day by the recently-signed artist, accompanied only by his guitar. It was released on Decca 5294 in November 1936 to little notice. Although the song was never published, it was covered by
Johnny Barfield
John Alexander Barfield (3 March 1909 - 16 January 1974) was an American country and old-time music performer, best known for his 1939 recording of "Boogie Woogie", the first country boogie.
He was born in Tifton, Georgia, and in his youth playe ...
and Roy Newman in 1939, and Griffin copyrighted it on January 22, 1944.
In March 1956, Carl Lee Perkins, who had released "
Blue Suede Shoes
"Blue Suede Shoes" is a rock and roll standard (music), standard written and first recorded by American singer, songwriter and guitarist Carl Perkins in 1955. It is considered one of the first rockabilly records, incorporating elements of blues ...
" the previous December, was working on follow up material at Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, and brought in a song called "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby", that he had written. Shortly after it was recorded, Perkins and his brother were in a serious auto accident, and the song and album were not released until May 1957. Perkins was listed as the sole writer when Knox Music, Inc. published it on November 12, 1957. It is unknown, but doubtful, that Griffin ever confronted Perkins, or even learned of the matter, since he died two years later, while the 1950s non-album oriented radio environment prevailed. In retrospect, Perkins contributed a modern arrangement, along with some minor lyric changes.
The recording was later re-released on the 1961 Sun Records album, 'Teen Beat: The Best of Carl Perkins', 'Carl Perkins' Original Golden Hits' (Sun International, 1969), 'Original Sun Greatest Hits' by Rhino Records in 1986, and further compilations.
The Beatles' version
The Beatles recorded "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" on October 18, 1964, at
EMI Studios
Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music ...
, London, with
George Harrison (a lifelong fan of Perkins) on vocals.
Harrison's vocals were heavily processed with the
STEED effect. It was first released as the final track on ''
Beatles for Sale
''Beatles for Sale'' is the fourth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 4 December 1964 in the United Kingdom on EMI's Parlophone label. The album marked a departure from the upbeat tone that had characterised ...
'' in the United Kingdom later that year, and likewise as the concluding track on the North American album ''
Beatles '65''.
The Beatles' recording finishes with a false ending, with the final phrase repeating itself after the song seems to have stopped. A version recorded live at the
Star-Club
The Star-Club was a music club in Hamburg, Germany, that opened on Friday 13 April 1962, and was initially operated by Manfred Weissleder and Horst Fascher. In the 1960s, many of the giants of rock music played at the club. The club closed on 3 ...
in
Hamburg
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in December 1962 contained four of these musical phrases.
Live performances of the Beatles' "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" were recorded in June 1963 for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
''. The latter recording can be heard on ''
''.
The Beatles continued to perform the song after their studio recording was released. It was included in the on stage set list in their 1965 European tour of France, Italy and Spain and their ten city August tour of the United States. The performance from the Paris concert was videotaped and broadcast on French television later that year. Audio from the performance recorded at New York's
on August 15, 1965, edited from the 1966 documentary film, was later included in ''
''.
George Harrison performed the song with Carl Perkins on the Cinemax cable special ''
'' in 1985.
performed the song live in concert in 1998 as a tribute to Carl Perkins on news of his death.
was included on his 2003 concept-compilation album ''Unearthed'.
In 2016, the song was featured as a bonus track on the remastered ''
'' album in a live performance from August 30, 1965 in conjunction with the release of the
''.