Your rare, little-known, almost completely forgotten one-hit wonder song of the day is “Baby Take Me In Your Arms” by some guy named Jefferson. The track was released in August of 1969 but hit the charts big, sort of, early in 1970, rising to #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and a bit higher (#15) on the Canadian charts.
Jefferson’s real name was Geoff Turton and he hailed from Birmingham, England. He released a few other tracks back then but none of them did anything at all. Even though the single sounds a little bit like the Grass Roots to me, it was a totally UK production.
The song was written by Brit hitmakers Tony Macauley and John Macleod, Macauley was on a roll at the time, having also penned “Build Me Up Buttercup” for The Foundations, “(Last Night) I Didn’t Get to Sleep at All” for the 5th Dimension, and one of my all-time favorites, “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)” for Edison Lighthouse. Macleod wrote a few other tunes with Macauley, including the Foundations’ “Baby Now That I’ve Found You.” You can definitely hear the similarities between “Love Grows” and Macauley’s contemporaneous “Baby Take Me In Your Arms.” Interesting bit of trivia: Mr. Turton/Jefferson actually recorded the original version of “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)” but the single wasn’t ever released. Too bad for him.
Jefferson was definitely a one-hit wonder; he released just one more album under his assumed name before quickly fading into obscurity. Mr. Turton is still alive today, however, aged 78. As for “Baby Take Me In Your Arms,” it pops up on the occasional UK singles collection but doesn’t get a lot of play on oldies radio, which is a shame. It was a catchy little number that could have led to better things for the English fellow named after an American president.
