"She Called Me Baby" is a country song written in 1961 by Harlan Howard which despite a number of recorded versions did not appear in the Top 20 of the C&W chart in Billboard until 1974 when a mid-60s recording by Charlie Rich was belatedly released to reach #1 C&W. In its female version, "He Called Me Baby", the song was a Top Ten R&B hit for Candi Staton in 1971.

"She Called Me Baby" was first recorded by the song's composer Harlan Howard for his September 1961 album release Harlan Howard Sings Harlan Howard. The track was released as a single in January 1962 and became a breakout hit in Texas where, according to his widow Melanie Howard, Harlan Howard spent two weeks doing promo before returning home to Nashville and refusing to do further promotion re his singing career as it interfered with his primary musical focus: songwriting.Jan Howard - then married to Harlan Howard - recorded the first female version of the song: "He Called Me Baby" in a 30 April 1962 session at Columbia Recording Studio (Nashville); the track was featured on Jan Howard's Sweet and Sentimental album released that October.

Patsy Cline recorded the song as "He Called Me Baby" in a February 1963 session at Columbia Recording Studio (Nashville). Cline had begun recording tracks for an album to be entitled Faded Love on 4 February 1963; "He Called Me Baby" was one of four tracks cut on 7 February 1963 in what would prove to be Cline's final recording session. After Cline's death on 5 March 1963 Decca Records elected not to release the Faded Love album instead including Cline's final tracks on two 1964 album releases, the second of which: the 2 November 1964 release That's How a Heartache Begins, featured "He Called Me Baby" which track had been given single release that 19 September to reach #23 on the C&W charts in December 1964, becoming Cline's final C&W Top 40 hit until 1980.

Three months after Cline's "He Called Me Baby" ended its run in the C&W Top 50 Carl Smith brought "She Called Me Baby" onto that chart for the first time; Smith's version - cut 14 December 1964 at Columbia Recording Studio (Nashville) - rose as high as #32. "She Called Me Baby" next charted in November and December 1972 when Dick Curless took his version to #54 C&W.

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