Baby Blue Badfinger

Baby Blue Album: Straight Up (1971)
by Badfinger

The "Dixie" addressed in the song's lyrics was a real person, a singer named Dixie Armstrong, who was a former girlfriend of singer/songwriter Pete Ham. The song is about a guy who keeps his girl (his "baby blue") waiting too long and loses her. It seems to be based on his long-distance relationship with Dixie, which he couldn't maintain.

Todd Rundgren produced this track. A year later, Rundgren released his breakthrough album Something/Anything?, where he wrote, produced and performed all the songs, including the hits "I Saw The Light" and "Hello It's Me."

George Harrison started producing the Straight Up album but turned it over to Rundgren when he decided to organize the benefit Concert for Bangladesh, which Badfinger played as part of Harrison's backing band. Harrison produced the album's other hit, "Day After Day."

The last US Top 40 hit for Badfinger, this song marked the beginning of a devastating decline for the band. They were signed to The Beatles' Apple Records - Straight Up was their third album on the label and featured contributions from George Harrison. With "Baby Blue" and "Day After Day" getting a steady stream of airplay and Beatles comparisons, they toured twice in 1972 to packed houses.

All was not well behind the scenes, however, as Apple Records was on shaky ground. Badfinger recorded their fourth album, but their negotiations with Apple got snarled and a lawsuit prevented its release. These legal entanglements kept Badfinger from touring or recording while they were at the peak of their powers, and also drained them financially. In 1973, they signed to Warner Brothers and recorded their fifth album. Nearly two years after Straight Up hit the racks, Apple finally issued Badfinger's fourth album, titled Ass, in the US in November of that year. Their self-titled Warners album came out in February 1974.

By this time, the band's sound had fallen out of favor, and both albums underperformed. With their legal and financial problems becoming even more burdensome, Pete Ham hanged himself in 1975. His suicide note made it clear that the business dealings were his undoing; he expressed hopes that his death would serve as a cautionary tale for aspiring musicians. He was 27.

"Baby Blue" plays in the last minutes of the final episode of the TV drama Breaking Bad in a scene where the lead character, Walter White, dies in a meth lab. At the start of the series, White is a high school chemistry teacher, but he develops a signature strain of blue meth and finds the drug trade far more profitable and exciting. Throughout the series, he refuses to compromise his work, so his blue meth is his "baby" in that regard.

The finale aired September 29, 2013, attracting over 10 million views. Downloads and streams of "Baby Blue" spiked right after the episode. By this time, there was only one living member of Badfinger: guitarist Joey Molland.

They were one of the first bands to sign with The Beatles' label, Apple Records.

The group was known as The Iveys, but The Beatles renamed them "Badfinger" after their road manager, Neil Aspinall, came up with the name. He got the idea from John Lennon, who used to talk about his "Bad Finger Boogie."

After Apple Records folded, they signed with Warner Brothers. The group was doing very well when Warner Brothers discovered money missing from their accounts. They pulled their albums and sued the band, effectively ending their career.

Despondent over their business problems, Ham hanged himself in 1975. In 1983, Evans also hanged himself.

All 4 members wrote some songs, but Ham wrote most of their hits, including "Day After Day," "No Matter What," and "Baby Blue." Ham also wrote the Harry Nillson hit "Without You."

The group played on George Harrison's first solo album All Things Must Pass.

The Warner Brothers lawsuit was finally settled in 1985, with the 2 remaining members and the families of the 2 deceased receiving a settlement for royalties.

Evans and Molland got together and released the last 2 Badfinger albums in 1979 and 1981.

1969-1981
Peter Ham Guitar
Tom Evans Bass
Joey Molland Guitar
Mike Gibbins Drums