Baby we've got a date

Baby We've Got a Date (in German as "Honey, we have a rendezvous ") is a song of Bob Marley and his band The Wailers . It was released as the fifth of nine songs on the studio album Catch a Fire ( 1973 ). The alternate abbreviated name was Rock It Baby .

Baby We've Got a Date was composed by Marley, who also sings the song himself. In the background, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer also sing a few female voices, although this is not about the I-Threes , which were added later after Tosh and Wailer left. Like the Stir It Up immediately following on the album , in the shadow of which the song stood and still stands, it's about a girl and (also physical) love.

Statistical data

The album version is in the key of A major ; Live versions of the song and their keys and duration have not yet been released. The duration of the album version is just under four minutes.

Lyrics description

The text is about a first rendezvous with a girl who is picked up at around a quarter to eight in the evening; she is not supposed to be late and is asked for some trust. They walk together in the moonlight and are happy about the new love they share.

In particular, the repetitive text passages "Rock it baby" and "We got to get together" allude to the intimate togetherness and the physical love of a young couple, albeit less clearly than in Stir It Up .

Music description

The song begins with a short solo of the Hammond organ and the electric bass , accompanied softly by the drums and the rhythm guitar . With the onset of Marley's vocal part, the lead guitar also comes in and plays the typical offbeat , while the drums merge into the classic one drop style. The first verse is accompanied by Tosh and Wailer in the background, with the "Rock it baby" parts the female voices are added. A short bridge in F sharp minor leads to the repetition of the first stanza. A guitar solo leads through the bridge again until the "Rock it baby" sections accompany the song to the end.

The lead guitar is reminiscent of typical Hawaiian sounds with its humming background riffs and thus gives the whole song a Hawaiian note. Since Baby We've Got a Date was written in the key of A major , just like Stir It Up , the song can also be seen as a prelude to Stir It Up , which became one of Marley's most famous songs. Together with Stir It Up , Baby We've Got a Date forms the soft part of the album Catch a Fire, which is otherwise infused with militant and socially critical songs .

Other versions

The Jamaica- only version of the album Catch a Fire , which does not include the transfers in the London Island studios , contains the song under the name Rock It Baby and without the lead guitar.

There is also a version that contains additional text at the point where the lead guitar plays solo during the second bridge. The additional lyrics, also sung by Marley, mean that the couple will have fun until sunrise ; the girl should hold his hand, then she will feel and understand love.