"Don't Say Nothin' Bad (About My Baby)" is a 1963 song written by

Gerry Goffin Gerald Goffin (February 11, 1939 – June 19, 2014) was an American lyricist. Collaborating initially with his first wife, Carole King, he co-wrote many international pop hits of the early and mid-1960s, including the US No.1 hits " Will You L ...

and

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter and musician renowned for her extensive contributions to popular music. She wrote or co-wrote 118 songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billbo ...

for the girl group

the Cookies The Cookies were an American R&B girl group active in two distinct lineups, the first from 1954 to 1958 which later became the Raelettes, and the second from 1961 to 1967. Several of the members of both lineups were members of the same fami ...

. It was the group's most successful single and their only one to reach the top ten on the U.S. singles charts. Critic

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' The Daily P ...

, in a song review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, noted: The single peaked at number seven on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

, number three on the Billboard R&B Singles charts in 1963, and #17 in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. ''Billboard'' ranked the song at number 86 on its list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time. The song was ranked number 790 among the greatest singles ever made in

Dave Marsh Dave Marsh (born ) is an American music critic and radio talk show host. He was an early editor of '' Creem'' magazine, has written for various publications such as ''Newsday'', ''The Village Voice'', and ''Rolling Stone'', and has published num ...

's book ''The Heart of Rock & Soul'' (1989).

References

{{authority control Songs written by Carole King Songs with lyrics by Gerry Goffin 1963 songs 1963 singles Dimension Records singles The Cookies songs