Cry Baby Cry
| "Cry Baby Cry" | |
|---|---|
| Song |
"Cry Baby Cry" is a song by the Beatles, written by John Lennon,[1] from their 1968 album The Beatles. The outro of the song is a short segment referred to as "Can You Take Me Back", written by Paul McCartney, which was actually an outtake from the "I Will" session.
Composition
Demos indicate that Lennon composed 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.[2] Some of the lyrics of the song are loosely based on the nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence".
Recording
Engineer Geoff Emerick resigned 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.[3]
After a day-long rehearsal, on 16 July 1968 the basic tracks were laid down for Lennon's guitar part and his vocal on the introduction, McCartney's bass, and Starr's drums, along with Lennon's piano and George Martin's harmonium, while all other parts were dubbed in two days later: Lennon's lead vocal, Lennon/McCartney falsetto backing vocals and tambourines, Martin's harmonium introduction, sound effects for tea, and Harrison's guitar, a Gibson Les Paul borrowed from Eric Clapton and soon to be a permanent gift.[4]
"Can You Take Me Back"
The song is followed on the album by an unrelated and unlisted track, ad libbed and sung 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".[5]
Personnel
Per Ian MacDonald:[6]
- John Lennon – lead vocal and harmony 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.
- Throwing Muses covered this song on the B-side of their Not Too Soon single (1991). (Not to be confused with their own song of the same name on their 1987 EP, Chains Changed. That song was written by Kristin Hersh.)
- Carolyne Mas included the song on her 1993 album Reason Street.
- Punk rock band Samiam from Berkeley, California recorded a version of this song on their 1997 album You Are Freaking Me Out.
- The jam band Phish covered this song first on Hampton Comes Alive (recorded 1998), and later (with most of the songs on the White Album) on Live Phish Volume 13.
- 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.
- Covered by Steve Earle at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on 31 May 2013.
- Beady Eye covered the song during an acoustic performance for Absolute Radio, June 2013
- Caroline Smith and the Goodnight Sleeps covered this song for the album the Minnesota Beatle Project Vol. 4, released on December 4th of 2012.
Notes
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 487.
- ^ Davies 1968.
- ^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 173.
- ^ Everett 1999, p. 167.
- ^ Pollack, Alan. "Notes on "Can You Take Me Back"". Retrieved 25 November 2011.
- ^ MacDonald 2005, p. 296.
References
- Davies, Hunter (1968). The Beatles.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Everett, Walter (1999). The Beatles As Musicians: Revolver through the Anthology. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-512941-0.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 0-517-57066-1.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (2nd revised ed.). London: Pimlico. ISBN 1-84413-828-3.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - 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.
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