“It was a song about dancing with a girl who was deaf, dumb, and blind with a lyric that included, ‘They danced all night to a silent band….’ I didn’t feel the earth moving beneath me. I told him these were the worst two songs I ever heard, utterly devoid of any pop potential… He said, “I’ll write some more songs and come back.”–Mike Appel to Marc Eliot, Down Thunder Road
Bruce played “Baby Doll” for future manager Mike Appel at their very first meeting in 1971. Appel was so unimpressed that Bruce almost didn’t get a second chance.
There was something about it, though. Appel was struck by the intensity and sincerity of Bruce’s performance, and by the creativity if not the polish of Bruce’s lyrics.
If you listen to “Baby Doll” today, though, it holds up pretty well (except for the definitely un-PC “deaf and dumb” descriptor). One can easily imagine the song translating well to the studio and stage with a more orchestral arrangement, and there’s an innocent, romantic charm to Bruce’s early lyrics.
Let’s take a listen:
Critics often dismiss “Baby Doll” as a Tommy rip-off, and they have a point.
The Who’s concept album had been out for about two years by the time Bruce first performed “Baby Doll” for Appel, and both featured a central character devoid of their senses. Bruce also hints that his baby doll, like Tommy, may not be truly physiologically disabled–her loss of sight, speech, and hearing may symbolize a retreat from a world that only causes her pain.
Whoa, baby doll
They tried to tell me you were deaf and dumb
But I knew they were wrong
You were just a silent one
Oh, baby doll
They tried to tell me you could not feel
But I found out they tried to conceal
From you that you were warm
Bruce, of course, plays the young hero, as any 22-year-old would-be rock star would. He sees past her disabilities (or defenses), and desperately tries to restore her sense of self-worth.
Well, they brought you into their laboratory
And tried to get you to show and tell
They wanted to hear you say that you were sorry
And then they told you that you were conceived in hell
But baby doll, you knew… you knew that wasn’t true
You knew that it was them, it wasn’t you
If Appel had cut Bruce off by this point, I’d have understood. Even at the time, these were far from Bruce’s best lyrics. But thankfully, Appel let him continue, because what comes next truly does hint at Bruce’s talent.
Oh, baby doll
It was so hard to know you
I could not tell, I couldn’t show you
But I didn’t have to ’cause you already knew
Oh, baby doll
We had to see by touching hands
We had to dance to a silent band
And you surprised me being so graceful
Those two lines–“We had to see by touching hands/we had to dance to a silent band”–are lovely, gentle and spare. Recall that Bruce was very much a fan of his rhyming dictionary in the early 1970s, and you’ll appreciate his restraint here even more.
The next verse is even better. Given the central conceit of the song, Bruce’s tender age, and the pre-politically correct culture he came up in, “Baby Doll” had every opportunity to venture into territory that would induce cringes today. But Bruce writes from a place of tender respect for his heroine and a remarkable sense of vulnerable self-awareness:
I know you can’t hear these songs I sing
But then they’re more for me than they are for you
Because you don’t need these songs
Babe, well I got news
Yeah, you knew the first time that I held you, babe
You didn’t have to hear an “I love you”
Bruce finishes the song the way he begins it, reinforcing the notion that Baby Doll might not be truly disabled, but rather simply unseen and unheard.
Oh, baby doll
They tried to tell me you were deaf and dumb
But I knew that they were wrong
And you were just the lonely one
“Baby Doll” had promise–enough promise that Bruce eventually recorded it as a demo at engineer Jim Cretecos’ apartment shortly after signing with Appel in early 1972. (It’s this version that we listened to above–Bruce’s original “Baby Doll” performance for Appel was on the piano rather than guitar.)
But just like “Hollywood Kids,” “Jesse,” and the other songs Bruce recorded during those original April 1972 demo sessions, “Baby Doll” was never released in any form.
Baby Doll
Recorded: April 1972
Never released
First performed: November 4, 1971 (New York City, NY)
Last performed: November 4, 1971 (New York City, NY)
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