About the Song
Released on October 3 2025 as part of the posthumous album Songbird, “I’d Like to Love You Baby” showcases Waylon Jennings in a reflective, intimate mode—recorded originally during the 1973-84 period but newly presented to listeners in this collection of previously unreleased work.
In this track, Jennings offers something less of the outlaw roar and more of a quiet longing—“Well, I’d like to love you, baby / And keep my other baby too,” the opening lines gently confess. The phrasing holds a vulnerability: the heart wants to reach out, hold on, and yet knows the cost. It’s the sound of someone who’s seen the road winds long and hard, and now simply hopes for a soft place to land.
Musically, the arrangement is understated and soulful. With minimal ornamentation, Jennings lets his baritone voice carry the emotional weight, supported by a warm, steady band presence. The production retains an analog richness that suits older ears: a voice you’ve trusted, a studio you’ve known, tracks that feel like old friends returning home.
For a mature listener—those who’ve loved, lost, regained, retreated and come back—this song resonates with the quiet truth that we often don’t need big gestures anymore. Sometimes we just need the courage to say the words plainly: I’d like to love you, baby. In that admission, there is both strength and softness.
Within the sweep of Waylon Jennings’ catalog, “I’d Like to Love You Baby” may not be a charting hit or anthem, but it’s a meaningful glimpse behind the leather jacket. It reminds us that even the outlaw had a tender edge—an edge shaped by years of living, missing, and hoping. If you listen today, you’ll find not only a song, but the echo of a heart still riding toward home.