Paul McCartney recorded a version of The Vipers’ ‘No Other Baby’ for his 1999 album Run Devil Run.
I’ve no idea how this one got so embedded I my memory… I never had the record, still haven’t.
Run Devil Run liner notes
McCartney first recorded ‘No Other Baby’ in 1987 during the Choba B CCCP sessions.
‘No Other Baby’ was a strange track, because I didn’t have a record of it. I didn’t know who’d recorded it or who’d written it. But I knew I loved the song from late ’50s. And so that was one I pulled out my envelope, say, anyone know this. They said, no. They had really no idea. I barely knew it. But I just remembered it, and remembered the verses. It’s just a simple song. And I always wanted to do it. We used to do it at soundchecks, actually on the tour we used to do it. I found out lately that it was recorded by an English group who were like a skiffle group. Was before rock ‘n’ roll for us here. And they were called the Vipers. They were like a favourite little skiffle group of ours.Funny though, I was talking to George Martin on the phone the other day and I said, I was telling him about ‘No Other Baby’, I said, do you know who this song is by. He said, I doubt we even did it. I’ve since found out, it was by the Vipers, you know. And I suddenly realised while I was talking to George, wait a minute George, you recorded the Vipers. He said, yes, I did… So it turned out we talked about coming full circle. George actually recorded the original thing.
Run Devil Run Best Buy bonus interview disc
The song was recorded at Abbey Road Studios on 5 March 1999, the same day as McCartney’s versions of ‘Brown Eyed Handsome Man’, ‘She Said Yeah’, and ‘Blue Jean Bop’.
‘No Other Baby’ was released as a single in November 1999, with the b-sides ‘Brown Eyed Handsome Man’ and a non-album cover of the Charlie Gracie song ‘Fabulous’.
Did Gilmour also record backing vocals on this track?