(The Daily Advertiser) There’s a moment in Oscar-nominated Green Book when the movie’s main two characters are driving and a song shoots out from the car stereo – “I love my baby,” the singer declares.
That singer is Bobby Page and the keyboardist and songwriter is V.J. Boulet, who recorded the track “I Love My Baby” when they were teenagers at Rayne High School back in the mid-1950s. For the Acadiana musicians, the first time they watched that scene and heard their song was magical.
“It’s indescribable, it’s a lump in the throat, a rise in the chest and then a yell,” Boulet said. “It’s like describing a touchdown.”
Their band, Bobby Page & the Riff-Raffs, was one of the first to play “Swamp Pop,” Boulet said.
When they wrote “I Love My Baby,” they never imagined it’d be featured in a movie, let alone one of the level of Green Book, which is nominated for five Academy Awards, including best picture.
There was no “baby” in mind when they wrote it – they were just headed to the studio and needed a song, Boulet said.
Page recalled seeing the their names scroll by in the credits the first time they watched Green Book in the theater.
“When you see your name up there … wow,” Page said. “For a poor old Cajun boy, 50 years later to have your name come up on the screen, it’s like … what?”
It’s the second time it’s been featured in a movie, as it was also in Company Man in 2000.
“We were in shock then,” Boulet said. “Twice in a lifetime is like a miracle to us.”
Page said they recently experienced the death of a musician friend and it was a reminder of how short our time here is. They’re proud of legacy they’ll leave with their music.
“It’s something to leave your family … a keepsake, memories for your family,” Boulet.
And thanks to Green Book and its success, people all over the world will now hear their song as well.
“You’ll always be remembered – that’s something to think about, ain’t it?” Page said, grinning widely.
The full version of “I Love my Baby,” as featured in Green Book, is embedded below.
The 91st annual Academy Awards will be televised live Sunday, February 24, 2019, on ABC, starting at 7 p.m. CT.