Courtesy of Mish.
Darlene Love – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – Live on David Letterman – 2012
Link if video does not play: Darlene Love on Letterman 2012
I have watched Darlene Love nearly every year at Christmas for what seems like 20 years (a quick check shows I was off by a single year). This is Love’s 19th consecutive appearance.
Love sings the exact same song every year. I missed Love’s live performance this year, but a very close friend “Liz” emailed a link to the video shown above.
There are changes every year in Love’s performance on Letterman. The highlight for me is a sax solo in the middle of the song. Typically a sax player bursts out behind a paper wall, but this year the sax player is in a glass bubble.
I love the saxophone and keyboards over guitars and drums.
Darlene Love was lead singer for the Crystals in a roundabout way as explained on Wikipedia.
The Crystals number 1 hit was “He’s a Rebel” (click on link to see an excellent video and hear an excellent sax performance!).
He’s a Rebel, written by Gene Pitney, was supposed to be released as a Darlene Love single but was instead released under the Crystals name although Love was not technically in the group.
I heard Darlene Love explain this on Letterman one year. From memory, Love’s version goes like this: Phil Spector (the producer for the Crystals, Ronettes, etc.) promised Love that He’s a Rebel as well as follow-up singles would be released under her name, but Spector reneged on that promise and instead released all of Love’s hits under the Crystals name.
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