When Eddie Money was working on his sixth album Can’t Hold Back, he was at a low point. Years of drug and alcohol abuse took a toll on his career, and he needed a strong comeback since releasing Where’s the Party? in 1983. At the time, Ronnie Spector had remained out of the limelight for more than two decades since her last Top 40 with the Ronettes‘ “Walking in the Rain” in 1964 and her divorce from producer Phil Spector a decade later.
Both artists needed a proper comeback, and then producer Richie Zito presented Money with Mick Leeson and Peter Vale’s song featuring an homage to the Ronettes’ 1963 hit “Be My Baby,” originally written by Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich. Initially, Money didn’t like the demos and wasn’t sold on the track until the Motels singer Martha Davis, who was tapped to sing on the track with him, convinced him to reach out to her to sing on it.
“I could hear clinking and clanking in the background,” said Money, recalling his phone call to Spector. “She said ‘I’m doing the dishes, and I gotta change the kids’ bedding. I’m not really in the business anymore, Eddie. Phil Spector and all that, it was a nightmare.’ I said ‘Ronnie, I got this song that’s truly amazing and it’s a tribute to you. It would be so great if you did it with me.'”
Money added, “When she got there, she didn’t even remember it. She had a mental block against [Phil] Spector. But then she came out and did the song. She was even better on a cheap bottle of wine and some crappy grass, I gotta tell you.”
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At first, Spector wasn’t interested in Money’s song until she read the lyric Listen, Honey, just like Ronnie sang… Be My Little Baby. “When they said that, I was sold,” Spector said, adding that Money was excited to have her on the album.
“He was a crazy person,” she added, “freaking out in the studio, going, ‘I’ve got the real Ronnie Spector singing ‘Be My Baby’ on my record.”
[RELATED: Behind the Song Lyrics: “Be My Baby” by The Ronettes]
‘Be my little baby, oh, oh, oh’
Throughout the lyrics, a man is desperate to be taken home by a woman he’s infatuated with. Money sings through the verses until Spector breaks in with her iconic Be My Little Baby, oh, ho, oh.
I feel a hunger, it’s a hunger
That tries to keep a man awake at night
Are you the answer? I shouldn’t wonder
When I can feel you whet my appetite
With all the power you’re releasing
It isn’t safe to walk the city streets alone
Anticipation is running through me
Let’s find the keys and turn this engine on
I can feel you breathe
I can feel your heart beat faster
Take me home tonight
I don’t want to let you go ’til you see the light
Take me home tonight
Listen, honey, just like Ronnie sang
Be my little baby, oh, oh, oh
Can’t Hold Back was the comeback Money needed. That year, Money was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for “Take Me Home Tonight,” which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Album Rock Tracks chart. Money’s other Can’t Hold Back singles “I Wanna Go Back” and “Endless Nights” peaked at No. 14 and No. 21, respectively.
Spector also had a resurgence in her career, following “Take Me Home Tonight” and returned to music and touring and released her second solo album Unfinished Business in 1987. Following the success of “Take Me Home Tonight,” Ronnie Spector started her annual Christmas Party at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in New York City and released her memoir Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness in 1990. In 1999, Spector released the EP She Talks to Rainbows, which was produced by Joey Ramone, who also wrote two tracks. Spector followed with two more EPs—Something’s Gonna Happen (2003), and Best Christmas Ever (2010)—and two final solo albums.
Spector’s 2006 album Last of the Rock Stars featured Patti Smith, Keith Richards, member of The Raconteurs, Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and more. She released her fourth and final album English Heart in 2016. In 2004, the Ronettes were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, followed by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
Money, who also released his seventh and final album Wanna Go Back in 2007, died on September 13, 2019, at age 70. Spector followed a year later on September 12, 2022, at 78.
Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
