There Goes My Baby
The Drifters
Written by Benjamin Nelson, Lover Patterson, and George Treadwell (with Jerry
Leiber & Mike Stoller)
Peaked at # 2 in 1959
Their second-biggest hit, featuring lead singer Ben E. King. Co-songwriter Jerry
Leiber later commented it was his least favorite of all the hits written with partner
Mike Stoller; perhaps for this reason, the song is sometimes credited only to
Nelson, Patterson, and Treadwell. Considered by some historians to be the first
R&B hit to use strings, paving the way for the mass acceptance of R&B music by
white audiences, and the transition of R&B to Soul music in the early 1960s. More
than two decades later, it was covered by Donna Summer as a Top 25 dance hit in
1984. The Drifters' original also inspired the title of a 1992 film starring Dermot
Mulroney and Rick Schroeder.
(Bo-bo, doo-doot-doo-doo-doo-doo)
(There she goes) (doo-doot-doo-doo-doo-doo)
(There she goes) (doo-doot-doo-doo-doo-doo)
(Bo-bo) (doo-doot-doo-doo)
(Bo-bo) (doo-doo-doo-doo)
There goes my baby, movin' on down the line
Wonder where, wonder where, wonder where she is bound?
I broke her heart and made her cry
Now I'm alone, so all alone
What can I do, what can I do?
(There goes my baby) Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh
(There goes my baby) Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
(There goes my baby) Whoa-oh-oh-oh
(There she goes) Yeah! (There she goes)
I wanna know if she loved me
Did she really love me?
Was she just playing me for a fool?
I wonder why she left me
Why did she leave me so all alone
So all alone
I was gonna tell her that I loved her
And that I need her
Beside my side to be my guide
I wanna know where is my (doo-doot-doo-doo-doo-doo)
Where is my baby (doo-doot-doo-doo-doo-doo) ?
I want my baby
I need my baby
Yeah, whoa-oh-oh
FADE
(There goes my baby)
Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh