Hal Blaine on “Be My Baby”

Hal Blaine is a studio drumming legend that I think, over the course of my drumming career has been more of a hidden or indirect influence. For certain he was a huge influence on many of the drummers I listened to growing up. The beat on this tune here is a great example of a direct influence he had on me.  

Although I’ve known The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” just from hearing it on the oldies station as a kid, I got hip to the song’s producer Phil Spector at the time I was digging into John Lennon’s solo post-Beatles stuff (Spector recorded the Plastic Ono Band album- one of my favorites). His “Wall of Sound” production style, combined with Blaine’s powerful personality on the kit make the drum take on this tune absolutely breathtaking.

The beat was a real innovation by Blaine, with the beat being on the ‘4’, and occasionally filling out around the upbeats. It’s absolutely huge sounding. In an old Modern Drummer article (June ‘06) he claimed that he was playing a tom and a floor tom, not kick and snare, even! When you get to the outro chorus of the song, the fills are completely unchained, but masterfully under control. It’s really a study in how to cut loose.