"Why Baby Why" | ||||
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Single by George Jones | ||||
from the album Grand Ole Opry's New Star | ||||
B-side | "Seasons of My Heart" | |||
Released | September 17, 1955 | |||
Format | 7" single | |||
Recorded | August 27, 1955 Gold Star Studios, Houston, TX |
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Genre | Country | |||
Length | 2:16 (Unbridged Version) | |||
Label |
Starday Starday 202 |
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Writer(s) | Darrell Edwards George Jones |
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Producer(s) | Pappy Daily | |||
George Jones singles chronology | ||||
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"Why Baby Why" | ||||
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Single by Charley Pride | ||||
from the album Charley Pride Live | ||||
B-side | "It's So Good to Be Together" | |||
Released | 1982 | |||
Format | 7" single | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 2:11 | |||
Label | RCA | |||
Writer(s) | Darrell Edwards George Jones |
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Producer(s) | Norro Wilson | |||
Charley Pride singles chronology | ||||
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"Why Baby Why" is the title of a country music song co-written and originally recorded by George Jones. Released in late 1955 on Starday Records and produced by Starday co-founder and Jones' manager Pappy Daily, it peaked at 4 on the Billboard country charts that year. It was Jones' first chart single, following several unsuccessful singles released during the prior year on Starday.
Jones's first chart hit, "Why Baby Why", has gone on to become a country standard, having been covered by many artists. The recording session for "Why Baby Why" took place in Houston, Texas's Gold Star Studios and featured the house lineup of Glenn Barber on lead guitar, Herb Remington on pedal steel guitar, Tony Sepolio on fiddle, and Doc Lewis on piano. The arrangement is upbeat honky tonk, led by a fiddle that plays throughout the song. Overall, the song has been described as a classic of the "finger-pointin' cheatin' song". In the liner notes to the retrospective Cup Of Loneliness: The Classic Mercury Years, country music historian Colin Escott observes that part of the song's appeal "lay in the way a Cajun dance number was trying to break free of a honky tonk song." Jones recorded the backing vocal himself, with help from innovative techniques from engineer Bill Quinn, after a planned appearance by more established singer Sonny Burns did not materialize due to the latter's drinking. According to the book George Jones: The Life and Times of a Honky Tonk Legend, Jones's frequent songwriting partner Darrell Edwards was inspired to write the words after hearing an argument between a couple at a gas station. The lyric sets up the theme of the song:
For the 1955 Original recording.
The single's early airplay occurred in Jones' home state of Texas, with Houston's country music station KIKK ranking it number one locally. Their charts were sent to stations around the country, which began to pick it up as well, partially overcoming Starday's regionally limited distribution. However, its progress on the chart was blunted by Red Sovine and Webb Pierce's cover duet, which benefited from Decca Records' major label status and national distribution and rose to number one on the chart over the 1955–1956 Christmas holiday period. Jones's rendition was later included as the first track on his 1957 debut album Grand Ole Opry's New Star.