Whenever I listen to MY WORLD IS EMPTY WITHOUT YOU, I have always been struck by the inclusion of "babe" in the song, missing from its title and yet so integral--and wonderfully jarring--to its composition. "Babe" is a real departure from the rest of the lyric and doesn't seem to follow how the song has been conceived or seem in the same vein of what has preceded it throughout the rest of the song. But I find it a great choice, at once unexpected, truly surprising, almost funny in its occurrence--especially when it would have been so easy to have used "dear" instead that would have fit very comfortably into the style of the lyric but might never have delivered the 'punch' that "babe" does. I love the lyrics of this song--moody, brooding, melancholy, and introspective. But then you run into "babe" and the casualness of the word feels like a hit on the head--and I like it. A lot. It's used for the background refrain, too. For such a beautifully conceived and produced HDH piece, "babe" is still the most memorable word in its entire lyric for me. And I can't help but smile that it's not even in the title, making it even more of a tickle and the one word in the song that I keep waiting for and anticipating, no matter how many times I've listened to the recording. In this superb HDH opus, its inclusion is part of what I think helps define the Motown Sound, and what Motown did better than anyone else.
Bookmarks