Cher :: Lay Baby Lay

Yup, been on a rather decadent bender consisting largely of old school Cher ephemera the past few weeks — the good, the bad and the ugly. All pre-ass tats, mind you. This is Cher’s take on Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay“, curiously re-titled “Lay Baby Lay” found on her 1969 LP, 3614 Jackson Highway. Backed by famed Muscle Shoals session guns, the Swampers, this is just one of three songs lifted from Dylan’s Nashville Skyline covered on the album.

MP3: Cher :: Lay Baby Lay

Posted on Cher

10 thoughts on “Cher :: Lay Baby Lay”

  1. My Dad is the bass player on Cher’s 3614 Jackson Hwy album. The title came from the address of the “brand new” studio they had just moved into upon leaving FAME Studio. The Cher album was the first album they made upon leaving FAME and a lot was riding on its success. It pretty much bombed, but I guess it all worked out for them (and Cher). Dad’s picture is on the cover. He’s standing between Eddie Hinton and Sonny Bono on second row. It’s not a great album by any streth, but a nice slice of a time long gone (summer 1969).

  3. Many thanks– That version’s new to me, and probably the best post-Sonny cut I’ve heard yet. Man, the Swampers nail it (as usual) and that Muscle Shoals production is (yet again) just perfect. I’ll continue the rest of my life to try to recapture that clear, but spacious sound they get, and will fail every time…

  4. Apart from the MS section–which was always stellar–this track is really marginal. Cher’s voice is amateurishly bad, and the mix (although this is obviously a vinyl rip) is terrible. Never heard the rest of this LP, but based on this one cut, it must be quite the dollar-bin reject.

  5. How awesome is this blog that Patterson Hood stops by to add some details to posts? Great stuff!! It was DBT’s cover of Eddie Hinton’s “Everybody Needs Love” that led me to check out his back catalogue.

    I personally can’t stand Cher, but I’ll take her Cherokee Princess guise over tattooed vixen any time. Allan Jones from Uncut has a pretty funny take on the Cher/Greg Allman union here:

    http://www.uncut.co.uk/magazine/may-2012

  7. “pre-ass tats” – good one. Don’t like her or the song, she’s better with schlock.

    Yo Patterson, I saw you in Philly, at The Bishop’s Collar! You guys rock!!

  9. That would be an interesting future post: Albums Named After a Street.

    Abbey Road – Beatles
    Exile on Main St. – Rolling Stones
    461 Ocean Blvd. – Eric Clapton
    The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle – Bruce Springsteen
    Stanley Road – Paul Weller

    Can’t think of any others off the top of my head, but there must be heaps.

  10. Cher cut “Cry Like A Baby”, written by my friend Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn on 3614 Jackson Highway.

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