Oh No Not My Baby

"Oh No Not My Baby"
Single by Maxine Brown
from the album Spotlight on Maxine Brown
B-side"You Upset My Soul"
ReleasedSeptember 1964
StudioBell Sound (New York City)
GenreR&B
Length2:36
LabelWand Records
Songwriters
Producers
Maxine Brown singles chronology
"Coming Back to You"
(1964) 		"Oh No Not My Baby"
(1964) 		"It's Gonna Be Alright"
(1965)

"Oh No Not My Baby" is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King.[1] 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.[2]

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.[3] 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.[4]

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,[5] and #51 on the Canadian charts before the year's end.[6] Record World said that it "has the right combination that makes for hit records."[7]

The B-side, credited on the single to Faces, was "Jodie" written by Ron Wood, Rod Stewart, and Ian McLagan.

Cher version

"Oh No Not My Baby"
Single by Cher
from the album Greatest Hits: 1965–1992
B-side"Love Hurts"
ReleasedNovember 2, 1992 (1992-11-02)
Length3:12
LabelGeffen
Songwriters
ProducerPeter Asher
Cher singles chronology
"Could've Been You"
(1992) 		"Oh No Not My Baby"
(1992) 		"Whenever You're Near"
(1992)

American singer and actress Cher released her cover version of "Oh No Not My Baby" as the first single from her first comprehensive compilation album, Greatest Hits: 1965–1992. The song was produced by Peter Asher and released by Geffen Records in November 1992. It became a moderate international hit early in 1993. AllMusic editor J. F. Promis called her cover "gutsy."[8]

Track listings

  • European 7-inch and cassette single
  1. "Oh No Not My Baby" – 3:09
  2. "Love Hurts" – 4:19
  • European 12-inch and CD single
  1. "Oh No Not My Baby" – 3:09
  2. "Love on a Rooftop" – 4:22
  3. "Love Hurts" – 4:19
  4. "Main Man" – 3:48

Charts

Chart (1992–1993) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[9] 188
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[10] 30
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[11] 87
Europe (European AC Radio)[12] 4
Europe (European Hit Radio)[13] 14
Germany (GfK)[14] 52
Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)[15] 28
Spain Radio (AFYVE)[16] 35
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[17] 19
UK Singles (OCC)[18] 33
UK Airplay (Music Week)[19] 6

Release history

Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref.
United Kingdom November 2, 1992
  • 7-inch vinyl
  • CD
  • cassette
 Geffen [20]
Australia December 14, 1992
  • CD
  • cassette
 [21]

Other cover versions

Samples

References

  1. ^ Oh No Not My Baby Retrieved November 29, 2011
  2. ^ Freeland, David (2001). Ladies of Soul. Jackson MS: University Press of Mississippi. pp. 150–51. ISBN 1-57806-330-2.
  3. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2013). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012. Record Research. p. 116.
  4. ^ "RPM Top 40&5 - December 28, 1964" (PDF).
  5. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2013). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012. Record Research. p. 806.
  6. ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - November 24, 1973" (PDF).
  7. ^ "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. September 29, 1973. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  8. ^ Review by Allmusic Retrieved October 15, 2013
  9. ^ "Bubbling Down Under: Week commencing 4 January 1993". Bubblingdownunder.com. January 4, 2025. Retrieved February 7, 2026.
  10. ^ "Cher – Oh No Not My Baby" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  11. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 9, no. 49. December 5, 1992. p. 19. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  12. ^ "European Adult Contemporary Top 25" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 10, no. 4. January 23, 1993. p. 20. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  13. ^ "EHR Top 40" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 10, no. 2. January 9, 1993. p. 14. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  14. ^ "Offizielle Deutsche Charts" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. To see the peak chart position, click 'TITEL VON', followed by the artist's name. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  15. ^ "Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (vikan 28.1. - 4.2. '93)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). January 28, 1993. p. 29. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  16. ^ Fernando Salaverri (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  17. ^ "Cher – Oh No Not My Baby". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  18. ^ "Cher Songs and Albums | Full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  19. ^ "Top 50 Airplay Chart" (PDF). Music Week. November 28, 1992. p. 14. Retrieved October 27, 2025.
  20. ^ "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. October 31, 1992. p. 21.
  21. ^ "New Release Summary – Product Available from : 14/12/92: Singles". The ARIA Report. No. 150. December 13, 1992. p. 20.
  22. ^ "officialcharts.com". Official Charts. Retrieved April 20, 2021.
  23. ^ Billboard 27 January 1973 p.15
  24. ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - April 18, 1994" (PDF).
  25. ^ "RPM Top 40 AC - April 11, 1994" (PDF).
  26. ^ "The Partridge Family - oh no not my baby (High quality)". YouTube. 23 August 2009.
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