Single Stories: Sonny & Cher, “Baby Don’t Go” and “Laugh At Me”

You already know that “I Got You Babe” was the song that turned Sonny & Cher into superstars, but the song’s success also turned one of the duo’s earlier unnoticed singles into their second big hit, one which actually found its success on the heels of a solo song by Sonny Bono.

The story goes like this: in September 1964, Sonny and Cher released “Baby Don’t Go” as their debut single on Reprise Records, which became a hit locally in Los Angeles and found some additional airplay elsewhere on the west coast but failed to hit the Hot 100. In the summer of 1965, however, they found themselves at the top of the charts with “I Got You Babe,” and with their fortunes having changed considerably, their label – Atco – opted to reissue “Baby Don’t Go,” which in turn provided them with another top-10 hit. During this same general window of time, Sonny released “Laugh at Me” under his own name, earning his own #10 hit in the process.

What’s particularly funny, however, is the way things went down with these two singles on the Canadian chart, where “Laugh at Me” was so popular that it actually topped the Canadian Singles chart. Its reign in the #1 spot only lasted a week, however, because it was promptly replaced in the top spot by – wait for it – “Baby Don’t Go.”