Amy Grant "Baby, Baby (Single & Video)"

"Baby Baby" is a 1991 pop song by American recording artist Amy Grant and it was issued as the first single from her eighth studio album Heart in Motion. The song was written by Keith Thomas and Grant. It was released on January 18, 1991, through A&M Records and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two consecutive weeks in April 1991, becoming the first in a string of hits from Heart in Motion. At the 34th Annual Grammy Awards in 1992, the song received three Grammy Award nominations, including Song of the Year.

The music was written by Keith Thomas. Grant always knew the song would be a smash hit, and was begging Thomas to write the song. He agreed with the only condition that the song's title must be "Baby Baby". Grant had a hard time writing the lyrics, because her early attempts to write a romantic-sounding lyric to a song with such title came off sounding like "some overgrown football jock with no vocabulary trying desperately to be romantic". But one day, after having seen her six-week-old daughter Millie, she said to herself: "Oh, baby baby". As a result, the lyrics were written in about ten minutes in her kitchen. In the Heart in Motion booklet are the words: This song is dedicated to Millie, whose six-week-old face was my inspiration. Millie would also appear on stage during Grant's performance at the 34th Grammy Awards.

"Baby Baby" was Amy Grant's biggest hit since her 1986 duet with Peter Cetera, "The Next Time I Fall". In the United States, "Baby Baby" became Grant's second number-one hit on the pop charts and her first as a solo artist, topping the Billboard Hot 100 (replacing Wilson Phillips' "You're in Love" from the top spot) and Adult Contemporary charts for two and three weeks, respectively. It also made Grant the first Christian pop singer to have a number-one single in the United States. The single reached the Top Ten in ten countries, in addition to reaching No. 11 in Switzerland. In the United Kingdom, "Baby Baby" was the singer's first (and only) Top Five hit in that country, reaching No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart. "Baby Baby" went on to become Grant's biggest hit single and one of the most successful singles of 1991.

A music video was directed by D.J. Webster. and edited by Scott C. Wilson. According to Webster, the video's main idea was to create a picture of the relationship that everybody wants. Grant added, "I think when you get film where there is a good sense of humor and mutual respect and people are just having a good time, everybody wants a piece of that". Its beginning features Grant receiving attention from other men, and her staying loyal to her lover, portrayed by model Jme Stein (who also appeared in her other video from that album "Good for Me"). At some point Stein is seen singing along with Grant and at the end lip-syncing to the words "Baby I'm so glad". The rest of the video is all about the couple having fun together.

The video first aired in March 1991, although MTV didn't air it until it had become too popular not to. A music critic J.D. Considine praised the video, writing that "the Baby Baby clip defines the way most of us imagine her. It was hardly typical video fare, with no special effects or distant locales; all it offered was Grant and a good-looking guy cavorting and acting pretty as she lip-synced to the song. Yet there was something genuinely appealing about the image it conveyed, something that made viewers want to see the thing again". It received a nomination for Best Female Video at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards, but lost to Janet Jackson's "Love Will Never Do".

It's available on the 1992 music video tape The Heart in Motion Video Collection and 2004 music video DVD Greatest Videos 1986-2004. A live performance is available on the 2006 DVD Time Again… Amy Grant Live.

Amy Grant "Heart In Motion"

Heart in Motion is the ninth studio album by Christian pop singer Amy Grant, released on March 5, 1991. The album features Grant's biggest worldwide hit, "Baby Baby" and was certified 5× platinum in the United States, selling over five million copies.

In contrast to its predecessor, the more acoustic Lead Me On, Heart in Motion consists of songs that were more heavily processed, as was the style of mainstream music at the time. In addition, unlike Lead Me On, Heart in Motion contains few overtly religious songs, with most of the lyrics for the songs on the album dealing with love or other life issues which would not be the exclusive concern of devout Christians. A couple of songs on the album, however, were openly Christian in their content, such as "Ask Me", which describes how a woman's faith helps her to heal from child sexual abuse, and "Hope Set High", both of which were hits on Christian radio. Another song with an overtly Christian theme is "You're Not Alone" which references a greater power despite edgy features like whipcracks and a guitar solo.

Heart in Motion peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 of the Christian albums chart for 32 weeks. It sold five million copies by the end of 1997. The first single from the album, "Baby Baby" offers the lyric that provides the album title and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts. The following four singles also performed well on the pop and AC charts: "Every Heartbeat" (No. 2 Hot 100, No. 2 AC), "That's What Love Is For" (No. 7 Hot 100, No. 1 AC), "Good for Me" (No. 8 Hot 100, No. 4 AC), and "I Will Remember You" (No. 20 Hot 100, No. 2 AC). The album was listed at No. 30 in the 2001 book, The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music[5] and was certified 5x platinum by the RIAA for sales of over 5 million copies, making it the best-selling Christian music album ever released.

The album also received a nomination at the Grammy Awards of 1992 for Album of the Year, which was awarded to Unforgettable... with Love by Natalie Cole.

A 30th-anniversary remaster of the album, including a second disc of demos, outtakes, and remixes, was released by Amy Grant Productions, with distribution by Capitol Christian Music Group, on July 9, 2021.

Track listing

1. "Good for Me" Amy Grant, Wayne Kirkpatrick, Tom Snow, Jay Gruska Keith Thomas 3:59
2. "Baby Baby" Grant, Thomas Thomas 3:57
3. "Every Heartbeat" Grant, Kirkpatrick, Charlie Peacock Brown Bannister 3:32
4. "That's What Love Is For" Grant, Michael Omartian, Mark Mueller Omartian 4:17
5. "Ask Me" Grant, Tom Hemby Omartian 3:51
6. "Galileo" Grant, Omartian, Gardner Cole, Mimi Verner Omartian 4:19
7. "You're Not Alone" Simon Climie, Rob Fisher, Dennis Morgan Bannister 3:49
8. "Hats" Grant, Chris Eaton Bannister 4:09
9. "I Will Remember You" Grant, Gary Chapman, Thomas Omartian 5:00
10. "How Can We See That Far" Grant, Hemby Bannister 4:26
11. "Hope Set High" Grant Omartian 2:48

Total length: 44:12

Production

Michael Blanton – executive producer

Amy Grant – executive producer

Todd Moore – production assistant (1, 2), assistant engineer (1, 2)

Traci Sterling – production coordinator (3, 7, 8, 10)

Richard Headen – production coordinator (3, 7, 8, 10)

Janet Hinde – production coordinator (4, 5, 6, 9, 11)

Bill Whittington – recording engineer (1, 2)

Todd Culross – assistant engineer (1, 2)

Kelly Pribble – assistant engineer (1, 2)

Jeff Balding – audio engineer (3, 7, 8, 10), mixing (3, 8, 10)

Bob Loftus – assistant audio engineer (3, 7, 8, 10)

Bill Deaton – overdub engineering (3, 7, 8, 10)

Steve Bishir – overdub engineering (3, 7, 8, 10)

Rick Will – overdub engineering (7)

Terry Christian – audio engineer (4, 5, 6, 9, 11), overdub engineering (7), mixing (4, 5, 6, 9, 11)

Clark Germain – overdub engineering (10)

David Ahlert – additional engineering (4, 5, 6, 9, 11)

Laura Livingston – additional engineering (4, 5, 6, 9, 11)

Clif Norrell – mix assistant (3, 8, 10)

Oceanway Studios, Hollywood, California – mixing location (3, 8, 10)

Brian Malouf – mixing (1, 2, 7)

Pat MacDougal – mix assistant (1, 2, 7)

Can-Am Studios, Tarzana, California – mixing location (1, 2, 7)

Lighthouse, North Hollywood, California – mixing location (4, 5, 6, 9, 11)

Stephen Marcussen – mastering

Precision Mastering, Hollywood, California – mastering location

Chuck Beeson – art direction

Rowan Moore – design

Victoria Pearson-Cameron – photography

America "The Border (Single & Video)"

"The Border" is a song written by Russ Ballard and Dewey Bunnell and performed by America. The song appears on their 1983 album, Your Move.

Released as a single in 1983, the song became the band's final Top 40 hit, reaching No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100. However, it fared much better on the Adult Contemporary chart, peaking at No. 4. The song reached No. 22 in the Netherlands.

America "You Can Do Magic (Single & Video)"

"You Can Do Magic" is a song by singer-songwriter Russ Ballard that was recorded as a 1982 single by folk rock duo America from their album View from the Ground.

The song was one of two Ballard compositions on View from the Ground, the other being "Jody". Ballard wrote both songs specifically for America at the behest of Rupert Perry, A&R vice president for Capitol Records. Ballard also produced the tracks marking a return to record production after a four-year hiatus; although Ballard had earlier hits as a songwriter, "You Can Do Magic" was his first major hit credit as a producer.

"You Can Do Magic" proved a solid comeback vehicle for America whose last Top 40 hit—"Today's the Day"—had occurred in 1976; the second of two subsequent appearances on the Hot 100 was in 1979. "You Can Do Magic" returned America to the Top 40 in August 1982 with the track reaching No. 8 that October. The popularity of "You Can Do Magic" was paralleled by the success of the parent View From the Ground album which rose to No. 41 on Billboard's listing of the top 200 albums, the first time an album by America as a duo (rather than the original trio) had appeared in that chart's upper half.

International chart placings for "You Can Do Magic" include No. 30 in Australia, No. 37 in Canada, No. 20 in Ireland, No. 27 in Italy, No. 12 in New Zealand, and No. 59 in the UK.

The success of "You Can Do Magic" led to America recording their 1983 album Your Move with Russ Ballard as producer.

The music video opens up with a gloved hand throwing glitter, which then pixelates into the band performing the song, amidst a cloudy background. Some shots feature a set of hands flipping cards (referencing the classic magic trick). On 17 July 2019, the video was officially uploaded on YouTube.

America "Sister Golden Hair (Single & Video)"

"Sister Golden Hair" is a song by the band America from their fifth album Hearts (1975), written by Gerry Beckley. It was their second single to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, remaining in the top position for one week.

Beckley says "There was no actual Sister Gold Hair." The lyrics were largely inspired by the works of Jackson Browne. Beckley commented, "[Jackson Browne] has a knack, an ability to put words to music, that is much more like the L.A. approach to just genuine observation as opposed to simplifying it down to its bare essentials... I find Jackson can depress me a little bit, but only through his honesty; and it was that style of his which led to a song of mine, 'Sister Golden Hair', which is probably the more L.A. of my lyrics." Beckley adds that "Sister Golden Hair" "was one of the first times I used 'ain't' in a song, but I wasn't making an effort to. I was just putting myself in that frame of mind and I got those kind of lyrics out of it."

Gerry Beckley said he played the 12-string guitar, and overdubbed the prominent slide guitar. "I had a lovely lap steel that David Lindley had picked out."

America "Tin Man (Single & Video)"

"Tin Man" is a 1974 song by the pop rock band America. It was written by band member Dewey Bunnell and produced by George Martin, who also plays the piano part on the recorded version. The song was included on the band's album Holiday, also from 1974.

The song's title and some of its lyrics refer to the Tin Woodman from The Wizard of Oz. Songwriter Bunnell was quoted describing the parallel: "My favorite movie, I guess. I always loved it as a kid. Very obscure lyrics. Great grammar - 'Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man.' It's sort of a poetic license."

Dan Peek - who describes "Tin Man" as "quintessential Dewey, easy stream of consciousness with a major seventh acoustic bed" - states that Bunnell "actually begged us not to record the song. Knowing Dewey it was probably reverse psychology; if it was, Gerry [Beckley] and I fell for it, insisting it was perfect for the album."

Released as the first single from Holiday, "Tin Man" became the band's fourth top-ten hit in the US, spending three weeks at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1974. The song reached number one on the Billboard easy listening chart in October of that year.[3] In the UK, the song was relegated to the B-side of another album track, "Mad Dog", released in July, but both sides failed to chart.

America "Muskrat Love (Single & Video)"

"Muskrat Love" is a soft rock song written by Willis Alan Ramsey. The song depicts a romantic liaison between two anthropomorphic muskrats named Susie and Sam. It was first recorded in 1972 by Ramsey for his sole album release Willis Alan Ramsey. The song was originally titled "Muskrat Candlelight" referencing the song's opening lyric. A 1973 cover version by the folk/rock band America—retitled "Muskrat Love" for the lyrics that close the chorus—was a minor hit reaching number 67 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 1976, a cover by pop music duo Captain & Tennille resulted in the song's highest profile, peaking at number four on the Hot 100 chart. It also reached number two on the Cash Box chart, which ranked it as the 30th biggest hit of 1976.

America recorded "Muskrat Love" for their 1973 album Hat Trick, marking the second time the band had recorded a song not written by a member of America. In putting together 10 songs to comprise the eventual Hat Trick album, America's members Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell, and Dan Peek had agreed to each contribute three compositions with a mutually agreeable cover song being recorded as the 10th track. David Dickey, who played bass for America, brought Ramsey's "Muskrat Candlelight" to the group's attention; according to Beckley, "to us it sounded like a very bluesy, quirky tune. We just felt it was quirky and commercial, and we worked it up."

"Muskrat Love" was issued as an advance single from Hat Trick in July 1973, although Dan Peek would recall that America's label Warner Bros. "hated" the track and "begged us not to release it as a single...We were stupid to press the issue, but we liked the song for its easy, acoustic, harmonic beauty, not realizing that perhaps it was badly cast for us in order to retain the fairly hip image we had eked out". Peek adds that the single "easily hit the Top 40 on the strength of our past successes" although "Muskrat Love" in fact marked a downturn in America's popularity with a low peak on the Hot 100 in Billboard at number 67; the single did better on the Billboard adult contemporary, chart reaching number 11.

In a 2012 interview, Gerry Beckley said of "Muskrat Love": "It's a polarizing little number. After concerts, some people tell us they can't believe we didn't play it, while others go out of their way to thank us for not performing it."

Track listings

1. "Muskrat Love" – 3:06
2. "Cornwall Blank" – 4:19

America "Ventura Highway (Single & Video)"

"Ventura Highway" is a 1972 song by the band America from their album Homecoming, written by Dewey Bunnell.

Dewey Bunnell, the song's vocalist and writer, has said that the lyric "alligator lizards in the air" in the song is a reference to the shapes of clouds in the sky he saw in 1963 while his family was driving down the coast from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California, where they had a flat tire. While his father changed the tire, his brother and he stood by the side of the road and watched the clouds and saw a road sign for "Ventura".

In the booklet for the boxed set, Highway, he states that the song "reminds me of the time I lived in Omaha as a kid and how we'd walk through cornfields and chew on pieces of grass. There were cold winters, and I had images of going to California. So I think in the song I'm talking to myself, frankly: 'How long you gonna stay here, Joe?' I really believe that 'Ventura Highway' has the most lasting power of all my songs. It's not just the words — the song and the track have a certain fresh, vibrant, optimistic quality that I can still respond to". The song has a "Go West, young man" motif in the structure of a conversation between an old man named Joe and a young and hopeful kid. Joe was modeled after a "grumpy" old man he had met while his dad was stationed in Biloxi, Mississippi at Keesler Air Force Base. He also stated "I remember vividly having this mental picture of the stretch of the coastline traveling with my family when I was younger. Ventura Highway itself, there is no such beast, what I was really trying to depict was the Pacific Coast Highway, Highway 1, which goes up to the town of Ventura."

"That's Gerry and Dan doing a harmony on two guitars on the intro. I remember us sitting in a hotel room, and I was playing the chords, and Gerry got that guitar line, and he and Dan worked out that harmony part. That's really the hook of the song".

The song contains the phrase "purple rain", later the title of a 1984 song, album, and film (and the tour that supported both the album and film), from the artist Prince. Whether any connection actually exists, both Mikel Toombs of The San Diego Union and Bob Kostanczuk of the Post-Tribune have written that Prince got the title directly from "Ventura Highway". Asked to explain the phrase "purple rain" in "Ventura Highway," Gerry Beckley responded: "You got me."

The song won many fans, including the pro wrestler-turned-politician, Jesse Ventura. Bunnell recalled, "We went and played at Governor Jesse Ventura's inaugural out in Minneapolis. He asked us to — his wife is a horse lady, and she'd always loved 'A Horse with No Name', and he had adopted this name Ventura. So when he put together his cast of characters for his big inaugural celebration, he wanted us to come and play two songs, which we did".

America "I Need You (Single & Video)"

"I Need You," released in 1972, is the second single by the band America from their eponymous debut album America. The song was written by Gerry Beckley.

Cash Box described it as "a gentle, 'Something'-ish ballad."

It appears on the live albums Live (1977), In Concert (1985), In Concert (King Biscuit), Horse With No Name - Live! (1995), and The Grand Cayman Concert (2002). The studio version is included on the compilation albums Highway (2000) and The Complete Greatest Hits (2001).

George Martin remixed the studio recording for inclusion on History: America's Greatest Hits (1975) with the pitch brought down a quarter tone and the bass guitar brought up further in volume from the original release. An alternate mix from 1971 (otherwise based on the George Martin mix) appears on the 2015 release Archives, Vol. 1.

America "A Horse With No Name (Single & Video)"

"A Horse with No Name" is a song by the folk rock band America, written by Dewey Bunnell. It was the band's first and most successful single, released in late 1971 in Europe and early 1972 in the United States, and topped the charts in Canada, Finland, and the United States. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.

America's self-titled debut album was released initially in Europe, without "A Horse with No Name", and achieved only moderate success. Originally called "Desert Song", "Horse" was written while the band was staying at the home studio of musician Arthur Brown, near Puddletown, Dorset, England. The first two demos were recorded there, by Jeff Dexter and Dennis Elliott, and were intended to capture the feel of the hot, dry desert that had been depicted at the studio from a Salvador Dalí painting, and the strange horse that had ridden out of an M. C. Escher picture. Writer Dewey Bunnell also says he remembered his childhood travels through the Arizona and New Mexico desert when his family lived at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Bunnell has explained that "A Horse with No Name" was "a metaphor for a vehicle to get away from life's confusion into a quiet, peaceful place".

Trying to find a song that would be popular in both the United States and Europe, Warner Brothers was reluctant to release Gerry Beckley's "I Need You" ballad as the first single from America. The label asked the band if it had any other material, then arranged for America to record four more songs at Morgan Studios, Willesden in London. "A Horse with No Name" was released as the featured song on a three-track single in the UK, Ireland, France, Italy and the Netherlands in late 1971. On the release, "A Horse with No Name" shared the A-side with "Everyone I Meet Is from California"; "Sandman" featured on the B-side. However, its early-1972 two-track US release did not include "Sandman", with "Everyone I Meet Is from California" appearing on the B-side.

Despite the song being banned by some U.S. radio stations, in Kansas City and elsewhere, because of supposed drug references to heroin use ("horse" is a common slang term for heroin), the song ascended to number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and the album quickly reached platinum status. The song charted earlier in Ireland (reaching number 4), the Netherlands (reaching number 11) and the UK (reaching number 3, the band's only Top 40 hit in the country) than it did in the United States.

The song's resemblance to some of Neil Young's work aroused some controversy. For example, in their review of "A Horse with No Name" Cash Box described America as "CSN&Y soundalikes." "I know that virtually everyone, on first hearing, assumed it was Neil", Bunnell said. "I never fully shied away from the fact that I was inspired by him. I think it's in the structure of the song as much as in the tone of his voice. It did hurt a little, because we got some pretty bad backlash. I've always attributed it more to people protecting their own heroes more than attacking me." By coincidence, it was "A Horse with No Name" that replaced Young's "Heart of Gold" at the number 1 spot on the U.S. pop chart.

The single achieved sales of over 50,000 copies in Australia, being eligible for the award of a gold disc.

The song has received criticism for its lyrics, including "The heat was hot"; "There were plants, and birds, and rocks, and things"; and "'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain." Singer-songwriter Randy Newman dismissed "A Horse With No Name", saying that it sounds like it's "about a kid who thinks he’s taken acid."

Penn Jillette asked the band about their lyrics, "there were plants, and birds, and rocks, and things" after a show in Atlantic City, where America opened for Penn & Teller. According to Jillette, their explanation for the lyrics was that they were intoxicated with cannabis while writing it. In a 2012 interview, Beckley disputed Jillette's story, saying, "I don't think Dew was stoned."