"Oh No Not My Baby" is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. The song's lyrics describe how friends and family repeatedly warn the singer about a partner's infidelities. The song is regarded as an American standard due to its long-time popularity with both music listeners and recording artists.

History

The first released version of "Oh No Not My Baby" was by Maxine Brown, according to whom the song had first been recorded by her Scepter Records' roster-mates the Shirelles with the group's members alternating leads, an approach which had rendered the song unreleasable. Brown says that Scepter exec Stan Greenberg gave her the song with the advisement that she had to "find the original melody" from the recording by the Shirelles: "they [had gone] so far off by each [group member] taking their own lead, no one knew any more where the real melody stood." Brown recalls sitting on the porch of her one-level house in Queens listening to the Shirelles' track play through her open window. A group of children skipping rope on the sidewalk picked up the song's main hook before Brown, hearing the children singing "Oh no not my baby" as they skipped, gave Brown the idea for the song's melody. Brown recorded her vocal over the Shirelles' track with the group's vocals erased; Dee Dee Warwick provided the harmony vocal on the chorus. Released in September 1964, Brown's "Oh No Not My Baby" spent seven weeks in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1964 - January 1965 with a #24 peak. The song was included on her second studio album Spotlight on Maxine Brown, released in 1965. In Canada the song was #32 for 2 weeks.

Rod Stewart version

In 1973 Rod Stewart (backed by his Faces bandmates Ron Wood, Kenney Jones and Ian McLagan) charted with "Oh No Not My Baby"; his self-produced version — a single with no parent album — reached #6 UK in September 1973 subsequently reaching #59 on the U.S. charts, and #51 on the Canadian charts before the year's end. Record World said that it "has the right combination that makes for hit records." The B-side, credited on the single to Faces, was "Jodie" written by Ron Wood, Rod Stewart, and Ian McLagan.

Cher version

In November 1992, American singer Cher released "Oh No Not My Baby", produced by Peter Asher. The track became a moderate international hit early in 1993. AllMusic editor J. F. Promis called her cover "gutsy."

Track listings

Charts

Other cover versions

Samples