"Cry Baby Cry" is a song by the English rock bandthe Beatles, written by John Lennon from their 1968 double album The Beatles. The coda 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. 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 sessions. Emerick would not work with the Beatles again until the session for "The Ballad of John and Yoko" nine months later. 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.
"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 originally had no official name, it has popularly become known as "Can You Take Me Back?" after the primary lyric of the song, and has been officially deemed so on the track listing for the 50th anniversary edition of The Beatles. The hidden track is an improvised jam recorded by McCartney during a 16September 1968 session for "I Will".
Legacy
Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of its release, Jacob Stolworthy of The Independent listed "Cry Baby Cry" at number 19 in his ranking of the White Album's 30 tracks. He wrote of the song: "Lennon translated elements of the nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence" for this effort, which comes with an added eerie McCartney segment titled "Can You Take Me Back?" He ultimately called the song, "unremarkable, but remains easy listening."
Personnel
Per Ian MacDonald: "Cry Baby Cry"
John Lennon – lead vocal and harmony vocal, falsetto vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, organ
The jam bandPhish covered this song as part of its near-complete 1994 cover of the White Album released on Live Phish Volume 13, and in 1998 on Hampton Comes Alive. The 1994 version includes "Can You Take Me Back" while the 1998 does not.
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".
