Cry Baby Cry

This article is about The Beatles song. For the Santana song, see Cry Baby Cry (Santana song).

"Cry Baby Cry"
Song by The Beatles from the album The Beatles
Released	22 November 1968
Recorded	16 July 1968 EMI Studios, London
Genre	Rock
Length	3:03
Label	Apple Records
Writer	Lennon–McCartney
Producer	George Martin
The Beatles track listing
30 tracks Side one "Back in the U.S.S.R." "Dear Prudence" "Glass Onion" "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" "Wild Honey Pie" "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" Side two "Martha My Dear" "I'm So Tired" "Blackbird" "Piggies" "Rocky Raccoon" "Don't Pass Me By" "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" "I Will" "Julia" Side three "Birthday" "Yer Blues" "Mother Nature's Son" "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" "Sexy Sadie" "Helter Skelter" "Long, Long, Long" Side four "Revolution 1" "Honey Pie" "Savoy Truffle" "Cry Baby Cry" "Revolution 9" "Good Night"

"Cry Baby Cry" is a song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon, from their 1968 album The Beatles.

Composition

Demos of the song indicate that Lennon wrote the song in late 1967. The original lyrics were "Cry baby cry, make your mother buy." Lennon described to biographer Hunter Davies how he got the words from an advertisement.

Recording

Engineer Geoff Emerick quit during the recording of "Cry Baby Cry", though his departure was precipitated by Lennon and McCartney's obsessions over the recording of both "Revolution" and "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da", respectively, and the overall tensions of the White Album sessions. Emerick would not work with the Beatles again until the session for "The Ballad of John and Yoko" nine months later.

"Can You Take Me Back"

The song is followed on the album by an unrelated and unlisted track which features lead vocals by Paul McCartney. Though the song has no official name, it is popularly known as "Can You Take Me Back" (after the primary lyric of the song). The hidden track is an improvised jam recorded by the band during a 16 September 1968 session for "I Will".

Personnel

Per Ian MacDonald:

• John Lennon – lead vocal, acoustic guitar, piano, organ
• Paul McCartney – bass guitar
• George Harrison – lead guitar
• Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine
• George Martin – harmonium

Cover versions

• Ramsey Lewis recorded an instrumental version of this song on his 1968 album Mother Nature's Son.
• Fool's Garden covered the song on their 1991 debut album Fool's Garden.
• Punk rock band Samiam from Berkeley, California recorded a version of this song on their 1997 album You Are Freaking Me Out.
• Bardo Pond recorded a space rock-influenced version on their 2006 album Ticket Crystals.
• Katie Melua covered this song in 2006 and released it on her maxi-single "Spider's Web".
• Throwing Muses covered this song on the B-side of their "Not Too Soon" single.
• The jam band Phish covered this song first on Hampton Comes Alive, and later (with most of the songs on the White Album) on Live Phish Volume 13.

References

• Davies, Hunter (1968). The Beatles. 
• Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 0-517-57066-1. 
• MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (2nd revised ed.). London: Pimlico. ISBN 1-8441-3828-3. 
• Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6. 
• Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-25464-4. 

External links

• Alan W. Pollack's Notes on "Cry Baby Cry"