Flashback Friday: ‘70s Teen Sensation Bay City Rollers Cover The Four Seasons’ Classic, ‘Bye, Bye, Baby’

Welcome to our musical Flashback Friday when we bring you “oldies but goodies” with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today we present the squeaky clean Bay City Rollers singing their 1975 version of The Four Seasons’ “Bye, Bye, Baby,” a tune that includes a key reference to a wedding ring.

In this song, the boy band’s lead singer, Les McKeown, confesses to his sweetheart that he would marry her, but he’s already committed to another… “Should have told her that I can't linger. There's a wedding ring on my finger. She's got me but I'm not free.”

Formed in 1966 as The Saxons, the Edinburgh, Scotland-based Bay City Rollers got their catchier name when one of the band members threw a dart at a map of the U.S. and it apparently landed “near” Bay City, Mich.

The Bay City Rollers ran off a string of chart-toppers in the mid-1970s, including 1975’s “Bye, Bye, Baby,” which sold more than a million copies and was the U.K.’s biggest hit of the year.

At the peak of their popularity, the Scottish teen heartthrobs — famous for wearing calf-length tartan trousers — were heralded as “the biggest group since the Beatles."

Ten years earlier, “Bye, Bye, Baby” was a hit for The Four Seasons, with Frankie Valli on lead vocals. The song reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and continues to be performed by the 79-year-old Valli, who is still touring.

We hope you enjoy the video of the Bay City Rollers singing “Bye, Bye, Baby.” The lyrics are below if you’d like to sing along.

“Bye Bye Baby (Baby Goodbye)”
Written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio. Performed by the Bay City Rollers.

If you hate me after what I say
Can't put it off any longer
Just gotta tell her anyway.

[Chorus]
Bye bye baby, baby goodbye.
Bye baby, baby bye bye.
Bye bye baby, don't make me cry
Bye baby, baby bye bye.

You're the one girl in town I'd marry
Girl, I'd marry you now if I were free
I wish it could be
I could love you but why begin it
Cause there ain't any future in it
She's got me but I'm not free so

[Chorus]

Wish I never had known you better
Wish I knew you before I met her
Gee, how good it would be for me
Should have told her that I can't linger
There's a wedding ring on my finger
She's got me but I'm not free so

[Chorus]