Jimmy Cross

Who was Jimmy Cross?

Jimmy Cross was an American radio producer and singer who attained a minor Billboard Hot 100 hit with the novelty song "I Want My Baby Back" in 1965.

He was born in Dothan, Alabama, and became the producer of the syndicated radio series Country Concert.

"I Want My Baby Back" was originally issued on the Tollie label and reached #92 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1965. The song is a parody of teenage death records of that period, particularly The Shangri-Las hit "Leader of the Pack". It has since become a cult classic as a result of frequent airplay on the Dr. Demento show. The singer narrates a traffic crash initially similar to the one described in J. Frank Wilson's "Last Kiss", but is revealed to be another angle of the fatal crash at the climax of "Leader of the Pack"; the singer is the sole survivor, and his girlfriend was fatally dismembered by the impact. After months of unabated grief, the distraught singer, in an apparent fit of insanity, decides that he is going to have his girl back "one way or another". With realistic sound effects, he unearths her grave, crawls into her coffin, and closes the lid for a muffled final chorus of "I Got My Baby Back."