Star Baby by The Guess Who

Album: Road Food (1974)

Charted: 39

License This Song

artistfacts

Songfacts®:

"Star Baby" was written by Guess Who lead singer Burton Cummings. At the time, the band was on tour with Bonnie Bramlett, who had split from her husband and musical partner, Delaney Bramlett and was having an affair with one of The Guess Who's roadies. "When I wrote it I was trying to see Bonnie through our roadie's eyes and what he might say to her," Cummings told Ken Sharp. "It was finished really quickly. I wrote that in about 20 minutes."
This is the first track from the Road Food album, their tenth album credited as The Guess Who. This is confusing, because their previous album, released in 1973, was titled #10. That one was overall the band's twelfth studio album, but the tenth to feature Cummings, and of course the ninth to have the band name without the question mark or the "Chad Allan and the Expressions" name.
The song was never a huge national hit, but did well in many markets, including Chicago, where the radio station WLS have it heavy airplay and ranked the song as the 37th most popular hit of 1974.
Burton Cummings would often describe this song as "straight-ahead, toe-tapping rock and roll" before performing it in concert, often adding that even if you don't like it, it will be over in two minutes and 57 seconds.

Comments: 6

Jim from Dalton GaI always thought this was Burton's response to Randy Bachman's "Taking Care of Business" after he left the band and formed BTO.
Dan from Grandville, MichiganNot that I'm one to be repeating gossip (so listen close the first time), but the rumor was that the female subject was in fact, the singer Bonnie Bramlett, of Delaney & Bonnie. She actually opened for TGW when I saw them in Chicago.
Dan from Grandville, MichiganAccording to the typical "Star Baby" song introduction by Burton Cummings, this song actually was in particular, about "an ex-member of the band and his relationship with a famous 'star baby'".
Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn April 5th 1974, the Guess Who hosted a celebrity tennis tournament in Toronto, Canada to benefit 'The Ballet of Canada'...
At the time the group's "Star Baby" was at #49 on Billboard's Hot Top 100; nine days later on April 14th it would peak at #39 {for 1 week} and it spent 19 weeks on the Top 100...
And in their native Canada on April 20th it reached #9 {for 3 weeks} on the RPM Singles chart...
Between 1965 and 1974 they had twenty-one Top 100 records, six made the Top 10 with one reaching #1, "American Woman" for 3 weeks in 1970...
In Canada they had sixteen Top 10 records, with five reaching #1 and one peaking at #2.
Kelley from Owensboro, KyDoes anyone know if this song is referring to a specific female singer?
Les from Joplin, MoThis song reached as high as #30 on the Cash Box chart. In Canada, where The Guess Who is from, this song reached #9. In Chicago it reached #4 on the WLS chart of 5-18-74.

see more comments

More Songfacts:

St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)John Parr

"St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)" was not written for the movie, but for Rick Hanson, a wheelchair athlete whose 1985 "Man In Motion" tour logged 24,856 miles on his wheelchair in 34 countries while raising $26 million for spinal cord research.

Sloop John BThe Beach Boys

"Sloop John B" is a traditional West Indian folk song, and it was a huge hit for The Beach Boys in 1966. They tweaked the lyric, "This is the worst trip since I've been born" to "...I've ever been on" as a wink to acid culture.

Baby Got BackSir Mix-A-Lot

Sir Mix-A-Lot says he's earned over $100 million from "Baby Got Back." He wrote the song and owns the publishing rights, so he can authorize its use in movies, TV shows and commercials, which he often does.

Hangin' ToughNew Kids On The Block

"Hangin' Tough" came at the peak of New Kids On The Block mania (1988). Their writer/producer Maurice Starr wrote it about the struggles the band faced early on. It was a #1 hit in both America and the UK.

Hey There DelilahPlain White T's

When he met Delilah DiCrescenzo, Plain White T's lead singer Tom Higgenson told her he'd write a song about her, and came up with the first verse of "Hey There Delilah" on the spot.

Nothin' On YouB.o.B

When "Nothin' On You" reached #1 on the Hot 100, B.o.B became the first American act whose name is a palindrome to top the chart. The other two who did so prior to the Atlanta rapper were both Scandinavian groups - ABBA and A-Ha.