{"id":30,"date":"2005-10-15T18:47:00","date_gmt":"2005-10-16T01:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/?p=30"},"modified":"2015-09-22T18:24:07","modified_gmt":"2015-09-23T01:24:07","slug":"little-baby-doll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/2005\/10\/15\/little-baby-doll\/","title":{"rendered":"Little Baby Doll"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Vini,
\nI<\/span>t may be time to address the “Baby” issue.<\/p>\n

Those familiar with my work will probably already know that, not only did I break my long-ago vow to “never write a song with the word baby <\/span>in it” (made when I was a TS Eliot and Upanishad infatuated college poet just discovering that — for getting girls — a guitar on the quad beat a stack of dog eared poems in a basement reading on the second Monday of the month in the bowels of the Student Union building), but that at some point I became obsessed<\/span> with what we shall henceforth refer to as “baby songs.”<\/p>\n

Or, perhaps more properly, capital-B Baby songs<\/span>, since, in many of these songs, “Baby” is more character name than endearment.<\/p>\n

So, who is <\/span>“Baby”?<\/p>\n

At first, I thought, myself, that Baby was what some of us, back in the cosmic-gestalt enthralled 60s, called The Other<\/span> — which, depending on context could refer to everything from God to one’s girlfriend, boyfriend, or pet dog.<\/p>\n

And there is certainly something to that notion.<\/p>\n

But as the character of Baby continued to develop over a number of songs (yes — someday there will<\/span> be a Baby opera<\/span>), I began to realize that Baby was also me<\/span> — or some perversely vexing, chronically importunate, and ultimately, thoroughly disquieted part of myself.<\/p>\n

[It should also be noted that I owe an eternal debt of gratitude to the man who wrote what I consider the Grandaddy of All Baby Songs<\/span>, Brian Eno, and who gave us all some of my first and most important lessons in postmodern pop. That song, of course, would be the brilliant paen to a truly smoldering beauty, Baby’s On Fire.<\/span> In fact, Little Baby Doll<\/span> even contains a passing reference to that 70s underground classic.]<\/span><\/p>\n

AYoS acoustic version:<\/p>\n\n

produced version<\/a>
\n<\/span>
\nLittle Baby, Little Baby Doll<\/span><\/p>\n

Baby started something
\nback in 1986
\nBaby started coming home
\nand showing me new tricks
\nLittle Baby <\/span>
\nLittle Baby Doll <\/span><\/p>\n

Baby said forever
\njust takes too much time
\nbut Baby said “I’m here right now
\nso that should work out fine”
\nLittle Baby…<\/span><\/p>\n

“Veni Vidi Vici”
\nBaby said when she came home
\nI said that’s fine for Caesar
\nbut Babylon ain’t Rome
\nLittle Baby…<\/span><\/p>\n

Baby liked to gamble
\nwith the things she said she loved
\nbut Baby blew her hands
\nwhen push came to shove
\nLittle Baby…<\/span><\/p>\n

Baby played the vagabond
\nBaby played the whore
\nBaby played with fire
\nshe’s not playing any more
\nLittle Baby…<\/span><\/p>\n

Saw her on the street one day
\nbut I didn’t call her name
\nAfter all this time
\nI know that Baby’s still the same
\nLittle Baby<\/span>
\nLittle Baby Doll<\/span>
\nLittle Baby…<\/span><\/p>\n

(C)1993, TK Major<\/span>
\n(C)1993, TK Major<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It may be time to address the “Baby” issue. Those familiar with my work will probably already know that, not only did I break my long-ago vow to “never write a song with the word baby in it” (made when I was a TS Eliot and Upanishad infatuated college poet just discovering that — for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,340],"tags":[221,629,468,98],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1437,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30\/revisions\/1437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ayearofsongs.org\/blg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}