"Somebody's Baby" is a song written by

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American rock musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 30 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he had his ...

and

Danny Kortchmar Daniel Kortchmar (born April 6, 1946), also known as Danny Kootch, is an American guitarist, session musician, producer and songwriter. His work with singer-songwriters such as Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, David Crosby, Carole King, David Cassi ...

and recorded by Browne for the 1982 ''

Fast Times at Ridgemont High ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' is a 1982 American coming-of-age comedy film directed by Amy Heckerling (in her feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by Cameron Crowe, based on his 1981 book ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A True Stor ...

movie soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured ...

. Reaching No. 7 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 after debuting at No. 73 on July 31, 1982, the track would be Browne's last top ten hit, as well as the highest-charting single of his career, spending a total of nineteen weeks on the chart. The song reached No. 14 on the ''Billboard''

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

chart, as well. In Canada, "Somebody's Baby" peaked at #16. The single was also released in Italy, Spain and Japan. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said that "Browne has come up with a most appealing first single from the soundtrack to ''Fast Times At Ridgemont High''." ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' called it a "midtempo rocker" which was not one of Browne's "most arresting compositions" but would still "appeal to pop and AOR formats." ''Ultimate Classic Rock'' critic Michael Gallucci rated it as Browne's 3rd greatest song, calling it "one of his most unlikely songs, a sweet, and surprisingly despair-free, love song." ''Classic Rock History'' critic Brian Kachejian rated it as Browne's 5th greatest song, saying that "There is no better soundtrack song in the genre of teen movies than Jackson Browne’s 'Somebody’s Baby'" and that although it's "the most pop-oriented hit of his career...it was pop music perfection that was all substance." It has since been released on several of Browne's greatest hits albums, including '' The Next Voice You Hear: The Best of Jackson Browne'' and '' The Very Best of Jackson Browne''. An unplugged acoustic version appears on Browne's album entitled '' Solo Acoustic, Vol. 2'' (2008).

Personnel

– lead vocals *

Craig Doerge Craig Doerge (; born December 4, 1944) is an American keyboard player, session musician, songwriter, and record producer, best known for his keyboard work with Crosby Stills and Nash, James Taylor, and Jackson Browne. Biography He was born in ...

– electric piano, synthesizers,

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

* Doug Haywood –

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

, harmony vocals *

– guitar (right channel) *

Rick Vito Richard Francis Vito (born October 13, 1949) is an American guitarist and singer. He was part of Fleetwood Mac between 1987 and 1991. Vito took over as lead guitarist after Lindsey Buckingham left the group. He is best known for his blues and ...

– guitar (left channel) *

Bob Glaub Bob Glaub (born May 10, 1952)Hageman, William (April 29, 2005)."The aces of bass: Five giants of an overshadowed instrument", Knight Ridder Tribune News Service. is an American bass player and session musician. He has played with such artists an ...

– bass *

Russ Kunkel Russell Kunkel (born September 27, 1948) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician with many popular artists, including Jackson Browne, Jimmy Buffett, Harry Chapin, Rita Coolidge, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Cass Elliot, Dan Fo ...

– drums

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Other versions

*Recording artist Sidney Gish released a cover of the song in 2019 as a part of Cavetown's Animal Kingdom series. *American rock band

Yo La Tengo Yo La Tengo (Spanish language, Spanish for "I've got it"; also abbreviated as YLT) is an American indie rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan (guitars, piano, vocals), Georgia Hubley ...

released a version on the 1988

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

entitled ''Human Music'' (HMS100) (

Homestead Records Homestead Records was a Long Island, New York–based sublabel of music distributor Dutch East India Trading that operated from 1983 to 1996. While the record label was renowned for releasing work of artists such as Sonic Youth, Big Black, a ...

). *It was covered by

Andru Donalds Andru Donalds (born 16 November 1974) is a Jamaican musician and vocalist, who also worked in collaboration with the Enigma project. Donalds had a hit single in America in 1995 with " Mishale", which reached No. 38 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 10 ...

for the soundtrack for ''

Good Will Hunting ''Good Will Hunting'' is a 1997 American drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. It stars Robin Williams, Damon, Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård and Minnie Driver. The film tells the story of janitor Will Hunt ...

'' (1997). *

Phantom Planet Phantom Planet is an American Rock music, rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1994. The band consists of Alex Greenwald (vocals, rhythm guitar), Darren Robinson (lead guitar), Sam Farrar (bass guitar) and Jeff Conrad (drums). The band is bes ...

covered the song for the soundtrack for ''

Not Another Teen Movie ''Not Another Teen Movie'' is a 2001 American teen parody film directed by Joel Gallen and written by Mike Bender, Adam Jay Epstein, Andrew Jacobson, Phil Beauman, and Buddy Johnson. It features Chyler Leigh, Chris Evans, Jaime Pressly, Er ...

'' (2001). *Country music singer-songwriter Eric Heatherly covered the song on his album ''2 High 2 Cry'' (2009). *

Spoken word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...

poet and rapper B. Dolan featured the song on his concept album ''The Failure'' (2008). * Free Energy covered the song in 2013. * Have Mercy covered the song for their portion of the 2015 split EP with Somos.

References

{{Authority control 1982 singles Jackson Browne songs Songs written by Jackson Browne Songs written by Danny Kortchmar Songs written for films 1982 songs Asylum Records singles Song recordings produced by Jackson Browne