Wiki
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Length
5:12
Wainwright wrote “Baby” about a love interest who was addicted to heroin, thus the lines:
“If you bring along your needles,
Then I'll bring my sharpened pencils”.
The subject of this song is Danny, the same guy Wainwright wrote "Danny Boy" about. In a 2020 Songfacts interview, Rufus explained: "He ended up moving back home to Nova Scotia, where he's from. I think he has three or four kids now and a kind of fulsome life, which is good, because he was very much under threat when we were young in terms of drugs and alcohol. So, he survived - thankfully."
Wainwright was really into opera; he loved the dramatic storylines and elegant orchestrations. "Baby" is the first song he wrote with a palpable opera influence, which he credits for setting him apart from the other singer-songwriters of his generation.
Van Dyke Parks did the string arrangement on this song and produced it along with Jon Brion. Parks, who is known for his work with Brian Wilson, helped secure a record deal for Wainwright.
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