Musical Monday: The Shangri-Las

I'm going all the way back to 1965 for this week's Monday musical treat; I think my grandmother told me about this unforgettable and poignant song.

But the real reason I'm featuring "The Leader of the Pack" by The Shangri-Las is so that I can also showcase an amusing, if somewhat sick, sendup of the song.

The other evening I was mentioning to Brainbox that although I'm not a big country and western fan I loved some of the song titles such as "I Liked You Better Before I Knew You So Well", "Mama Get a Hammer (There's a Fly on Papa's Head)"; "How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away?" "My Wife Ran Off With My Best Friend And I Sure Do Miss Him", "You're The Reason Our Kids Are So Ugly" etc etc.

This led on to my telling him that there were some truly awful pop songs out there and, for example, "I Want My Baby Back" by Jimmy Cross is so crass that it's almost good. The late DJ Kenny Everett featured it as his all-time worst record. Enjoy both songs for different reasons.

"I Want My Baby Back" by Jimmy Cross gives us the tale of the other rider from the song "Leader of the Pack" by The Shangri-Las, when the singer's boyfriend dies on his motorbike.


I Want My Baby Back by Jimmy Cross

I want my baby back
Gotta have my baby back
I miss her oh, so much
Cain't live without her touch

[wind, digging sounds]


I don't hardly know where to begin.
I remember, we were cruisin' home from the Beatles concert.
I'd had such a wonderful evenin' sittin' there watchin' my baby
screamin' and tearin' her hair out and carryin' on.
She was sooo full of life.
Then...

Well, we were about three miles from home when all of a sudden
it started to rain.


[thunder, rain]


And I do mean rain - I couldn't hardly see nuthin'!
Well, we kept drivin' for about another mile when all of a sudden
I see this stalled car right smack in front of me!
Well, I wa'nt about to slam on the brakes 'cause I didn't have
none to start to with.
So I swerved to the left, and what do I see?
Some mush-head, on a motorsickle, headin' right at us!
And I knew at last, me and my baby were about to meet
the leader of the...

[long crash] Wooooo-haaaaaa!

...pack.

Well, when I come to I looked around,
and there was the leader,
and there was the pack,

And over there was myyy baby.

And over there was my baby.

And waaay over there was my baby!

I want my baby back
Gotta have my baby back
I miss her oh, so much
Cain't live without her touch

[wind, digging]


It's been many months now since that fateful night,
and you know somethin', I've tried, believe me I have tried -
but I just cain't make it without my baby.
So, I've decided I'm gonna have back her one way or another.

Oh baby, I diiig you so much. A-heh-heh!


[thud] Hot dang - pay dirt!

[creaky door opening, shuffling, creaky door closing]

[Muffled:]


I got my baby back
Now I got my baby back
I love her oh, so much
Cain't live without her touch
I got my baby back...