SONG OF THE DAY
“Somebody’s Baby” by Jackson Browne (Fast Times at Ridgemont High: Music From the Motion Picture, Asylum Records, 1982). Written by Jackson Browne & Danny Kortchmar.
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
– “Somebody’s Baby” was Browne’s last top ten song, and his highest-charting as well, reaching #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1982.
– It was not released on any of Browne’s albums proper, but on the soundtrack to the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The film also featured the song at several key moments, mostly concerning the Jennifer Jason Leigh character’s misadventures with sex.
– “Somebody’s Baby” eventually made its way onto the Jackson Browne best-of compilation The Next Voice You Hear: The Best of Jackson Browne, and also appeared on The Very Best of Jackson Browne.
– An acoustic version of this song can also be found on his Solo Acoustic, Vol. 2 album, released in 2008.
– Phantom Planet covered the song in 2001 for the Not Another Teen Movie soundtrack, which parodied 1980s teen movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
– In 1997 it was covered by Andru Donalds for the Good Will Hunting soundtrack [This would be where I think I most recently heard it, because I was watching that the other day. Though I will say that I’ve been meaning to blog this song for awhile].
– American rock band Yo La Tengo also covered the song, and their version appears on the compilation album Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo.
– Spoken word poet and rapper B. Dolan features the song on his 2008 concept album The Failure.