Baby Baby

"Baby Baby," The Swirling Eddies
"Baby Game," Daniel Amos
"Baby I'm a Star," Prince
"Baby It's Cold Outside," Ray Charles and Betty Carter
"Baby, Just Be Yourself," The Pipettes
"Baby on Board," The Be Sharps
"Baby Plays Around," Elvis Costello
"Baby Watch Your Back," Nellie McKay
"Baby, What's Wrong With You," Crooked Still
"Baby Why?" Green

Bonus: "B-A-B-Y," Carla Thomas

I appreciate Prince's touchiness on the subject of copyright — once you lose your own name in a legal battle, you're bound to get a bit defensive. But the near-total absence of his TV performances on YouTube is just annoying. Prince played "Baby I'm a Star" at the 1985 Grammy Awards and brought down the house. Haven't seen it for years, but I recall him finishing with "Baby I'm a …" (swats the microphone stand so it falls to the side, catches it with his foot, kicks it back up and catches it with his other hand just in rhythm for) "… star" and me and everyone else watching thinking, "OK, yes. Yes you are."

The Eddies recorded Amy Grant's "Baby Baby" for their delightful and often unlistenable album, Sacred Cows. This was a collection of irreverent — make that hostile — covers of some of the most popular and insipid contemporary Christian music hits, including DeGarmo & Key's "God Good, Devil Bad" and "Satan, Bite the Dust," by the execrable Carman.

Grant actually gets off easy here. "Baby Baby" is a silly, sloppy rendition featuring an inexplicable Edith-Bunker vocal, but it comes across as almost affectionate compared to the nearly vicious ridicule aimed at the other tracks on Sacred Cows. That's appropriate. "Baby Baby" was a disposable bit of shallow, but annoyingly catchy, pop, but the original involved a measure of capable craft. The original versions of the other tracks here seemed to involve a more cynical attempt to exploit the CCM market's willingness to buy almost anything provided it had evangelically correct lyrical content, and despite the playful tone, the Eddies seem to treat them with genuine contempt. When the sacreligious becomes the object of devotion, then it's time to kill some sacred cows.