Cry Baby Cry
Key: G Major/e minor
Meter: 4/4
Form: Refrain – Verse – Refrain – Verse – Refrain – Verse – Refrain – Verse – Refrain – Refrain – Outro
(with complete ending)
General Points Of Interest
Style and Form
In a world where the archetypal lyrics for a lullaby are “hush little baby, don't you cry,” John's title phrase
here combined with “she's old enough to know better” conjures up some kind of perverse Anti Lullaby. The
fancifully surreal nursery rhyme verses are striking themselves, with their alternating King/Queens and
Duchess/Duke. When the pattern is broken in the final verse you wonder if he's avoiding foolish
consistency, or like Paul in “What You're Doing,” he just ran out of options. But in any event, it's the
unexplained and ambiguous, just-this-side-of-nasty needling of the refrain that fascinates you in spite of
yourself. Is John singing the song about “mother” in 3rd person, or is he singing in the first person, in which
case the offending line should be taken as self-mocking?
We have a standard folksong form with an introductory refrain. The proceedings are enlivened by the
prevalent number of elisions between sections. Imagine how flat and four-square it would sound without
them.
Melody and Harmony
The tune is primarily pentatonic (G,A,B,D,E) with a touch of the blue 3rd in the little instrumental interlude
that punctuates the verses. The song maintains a vacillating ambiguity as regards home key between G
Major and its relative minor key of e. On the one hand, it's an effect very similar to what we saw in the
previous “Savoy Truffle,” but if you compare them side by side you'll be astonished just how differently two
individuals can solve the same puzzle at the detailed level.
Arrangement
John's simple acoustic strumming is at the heart of the backing track, though drums, bass, piano, organ,
accordion (?) and lead guitar all get in the act before its over. Generally speaking, the texture is thickened
and the mood intensified during the first half of the song and backs off slightly during the second half. Trace
it on your own; you're old enough to do so.
The arrangement contains two examples of word painting of an obvious sort you don't often find in the
Beatles: the piano playing Queen and the politely tittering Duchess.
Section By Section Walkthrough
Refrain
The refrain is eight measures long with two loosely parallel phrases of equal length:
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|G |a |F |G |
G: I ii flat-VII I I
|e |A |F |G |
vi V-of-V flat-VII I
The home key is established by the modal flat-VII cadence; there's not V chord to be found in the entire
song. Not only does flat-VII create an implied cross relation with the F# of the key signature, but the use of
an A Major chord in the second phrase creates an explicit cross relation (C#/C natural) with the flat-VII that
follows it. The introductory refrain ends on an e minor chord, and elides with the start of the first verse.
Verse
The verse is 12 measures long and consists of the same 6 measure phrase repeated twice:
--------------------- 2X -----------------------
chords |e |- |- |- |Cb7 |G |
bassline |E |Eb |D |Db |C |G |
vi IV I
It might be more accurate to call it a 4 measure phrase followed each time by a dramatic two measure
flourish in the accompaniment. The latter effect exudes Anti Lullaby values that are at least as strong the
ones to be found in the lyrics of the refrain.
Yet another cross relation is created by the blue Bb of the C7 chord with the B natural of the G chord
that follows. In every case, the 12th measure of the verse elides with the first measure of the following
refrain.
The chromatically descending bass line in the first four measures of this section is a worthy object
lesson where Roman numerals for the resulting chords are NOT appropriate. Yes, we have (in sequence): e
minor, Eb augmented, G major in 6/4 position, and a half-diminished 7th chord on D flat but the four chords
make no harmonically significant “progression.” If the e minor chord moved to C Major in the course of a
single measure where the descending bass line unfolded more quickly, you'd never dream of talking chord
changes here. What makes it a special suspenseful effect in this case is the time scale; the extent to which
each chord is prolonged for a complete measure.
Outro
The outro contains a classic three-times-you're-out repeat of the refrain section. The elision technique is
further exploited by having the end of the first two repeats overlap with the first measure of the second and
third ones. Enigmatically, of course, the song ends on an e minor chord, instead of G Major which has
otherwise dominated the song. It sounds to my ears, too, like John leaves the tune hanging with an unusual
4th ('A') suspended over the final chord.
Some Final Thoughts
As usual, there's what to learn from a check of the outtake and demo versions in spite of the similarity of
both of them to the official version. The outtake on Anthology 3 handles the introductory refrain differently,
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with a couple measures of guitar vamping, and John singing only 50% of the lyrics rather than the 75%
you're used to. The musical text is otherwise identical, and the arrangement is slightly plainer in a way that
makes you appreciate all the more so the value added by the small details.
The demo omits the intro and starts right off with the first verse; an uncanny parallel with the home
demos and earliest studio take of “Strawberry Fields Forever.” For the outro, John attempts to shift to a 3/4
waltz beat for the last couple refrains. It's an effect realized with only partial success in this performance but
intriguing nevertheless in terms of intimations about what might have been.
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