Songoftheday 10/22/13 - I broke his heart and made him cry now I'm alone, so all alone what can I do, what can I do?

Donna Summer - "There Goes My Baby"
from the album Cats Without Claws (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #21 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 8

Today's Song of the Day is by the "Queen Of Disco", Donna Summer, who had adapted somewhat to the anti-genre pop world in the early 80s, and scored one of her most long-lasting hits with "She Works Hard For The Money" in 1983. Hoping to build on that success, she kept producer Michael Omartian on board for her next album with new label Geffen Records, and the first single from the set was a new-wave-tinged cover of the Drifters' classic from 1959, "There Goes My Baby". Written by Ben E. King with trumpeter George Treadwell and Lover Patterson, the original went to #2 on the pop chart...

Donna's version tried to update it a bit, but as much of a classic melody it was, it didn't quite totally fit in with the Prince, Cyndi Lauper, and Michael Jackson hits of the time. The video co-starred her husband Bruce Sudano (of the singing group Brooklyn Dreams)...

"There Goes My Baby" stalled out right under the top-20 on the pop chart in the US in October of 1984, while going the extra notch to make it on the R&B format list, and scaling to #17 on the adult-contemporary chart. It was a top-40 hit in Canada, but in England it barely made a dent at #99.

Although this period of hers wasn't her commercial best, I really liked this take on the song back in the day. It was a nice breezy, though non-essential cover that fit nicely between her disco on Stock Aitken Waterman work.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


Other artists to have recorded good versions of the song include 60's soul singer Garnet Mimms..

...as well as the great Otis Redding..

...and finally, here's Donna miming with some sailors, for no good reason..

Up tomorrow: a British neo-romantic pop band croons about your departure.