Beatles "Cry Baby Cry" white album 1968

It is a very creepy album - the whole vibe & feel about it is like no other Beatles album - but it still manages to be The Beatles.
The first time I heard it I was recovering from Chicken Pox & was feeling delirious anyway - the vibe of the album only added to my delirium.

 

It definitely shouldn't ever be pronounced with an "r" in it!

 

...and thus it was.....*GASP*.....'McCartneyesque'.

It was "not his rubbish"; it was someone else's!

 

There are so many great posts in this thread, such clever & astute people. Glen you're observations that Cry Baby Cry was so 6 months ago, by the time it was released, & that it was the Beatles final Psychedelic song are brilliant.

Cry Baby Cry & Free As A Bird remind me of each other, when I heard FAAB & thought it sounded White album ish, I think this is why.

I more tidbit, apparently during this session, is when Geoff Emerick walked out on the Beatles, not to return until Abbey Road. Tension going on that exploded during this session .

Apparently Emerick's departure & Ken Scott's instant promotion didin't slow down Lennon or the Beatles, who rapidly finished the song.

According to Beatles Bible, Emerick said he'd had enough to George Martin & wanted to leave. Martin said OK, you can leave at the end of the week then. Emerick said no I'm leaving now, & walked out.

The more you read about this, the more fascinating it becomes.

 

Love, love, love this song! It's also the gateway on the White Album where things take a sharp left turn, starting with the snippet of Can You Take Me Back and moving into Revolution 9 and then Goodnight. I love the sequencing here. Wonderful!!!

 

First time I heard this as kid, I thought to myself 'parts of this sound like Alice in Wonderland', but of course, that wasn't possible. The Beatles didn't read books, did they?

 

Love it.

 

Fortunately, the music doesn't.

 

One of my favorite segues as a DJ was going directly from Cry Baby Cry (cutting off before Can You Take Me Back) into Dumb by Nirvana.

 

If he was asked about this in late 74/early 75 I think we would have gotten a very different (real) answer.

 

It's one of my favourite Ringo Drum performances, he does something slightly different on every verse, simple yet very effective. I think 'Cry Baby Cry' and 'Can You Take Me Back' are perfectly placed on the White Album, slightly eerie before the nightmarish Revolution #9.

 

I love the song. John was notorious for dissing his own stuff, and also for changing his mind from one day to the next on what he thought of something.

I used to think the "creepy" vibe from the White Album was just some association I had from hearing it for the first time around 10 years old and being literally scared of Revolution #9 (and fascinated by it at the same time), and also from associating it with the "Paul is dead" rumor and the handful of supposed "clues" on the album. But I see that feeling is more universal. There is kind of an ominous, foreboding vibe the pervades the album. I have no idea to what extent that was intentional on their part, but it adds to the experience for me.

Cry Baby Cry definitely has that vibe, with the haunting, somber melody and chord progression, and the strange nursery rhyme lyrics. And then it goes into "Can You Take Me Back", followed by Revolution #9. I wonder if I just knew this song in isolation from its surroundings on the album if it would feel the same, maybe not.

And yes, great drumming by Ringo on it.

 

Love it.

 

It was inspired by a commercial he had heard that said "Cry baby cry, make your Mother buy"

 

..Great strategy....Marketing 101, to this very day!

 

I absolutely love Cry Baby Cry!

 

Cry Baby Cry is amazing....one of my favorites on the album. For all we know Lennon could have been thinking about She's Leaving Home.

 

I thought the sequencing of Cry Baby Cry with Can You Take Me Back worked, with the ending of CBC having a seance and Paul singing Can You Take Me Back after the last chorus made him sound like a real ghost despite that it was a play seance put on by the children.

 

I love this song. It's spooky. Especially leading right up to Revolution 9. Would scare the crap out of me as a young teen.

 

One of the best tracks on the White Album. Great lyrics, sung in a weirdly nasal voice (John had a bad cold) which makes the track even more spooky.

 

Much more interesting lyrically than musically. The chromatically descending minor-key bass line had already been used in "Michelle" three years earlier.

 

Love the song. Perfect transition into Revolution 9.

 

Absolutely love Can You Take Me Back!

 

Nice work Johnny! Cry Baby Cry is an interesting recording for many reasons. Firstly it was THIS session when Geoff Emerick left the production team. He incorrectly stated that he left due to all the in-fighting and not being able to take an argument between Paul and George Martin about the vocals for Ob La Di (that was the day prior). He literally left midway through the double session (4:00- 9:00; 10:00-2:00AM) for Cry Baby Cry on 16 July 1968. According to Lewisohn, the basic track was Lennon vocal, bass, organ, drums and acoustic guitar. Not sure if he played organ or acoustic guitar, but not both. During the evening session they added piano (John) and harmonium (George Martin) onto take 10. The next day they all attended the premier of Yellow Submarine. On 18 July they augmented the recording with new Lennon vocals, tambourine and backing vocals (Mark doesn't say who sang) and additional harmonium.

Wasn't the first time either. He walked out during the Magical Mystery Tour sessions too citing exhaustion (I believe he was all of 20/21 y.o.) Ken Scott was promoted to engineer, whilst Jeff Jarratt, Richard Lush and others became tape ops. So let's see. Scott engineered the following sessions:

Your Mother Should Know (16 September 1967)
The Fool On The Hill (25 September)
I Am The Walrus The orchestral overdubs and radio voiceovers (27 September)
I Am The Walrus and Flying (overdubs and mono mixing 28 September)
Your Mother Should Know and I Am The Walrus (Additional overdubs and mono mixing) 29 September)
Hello Goodbye and Blue Jay Way (Recording and overdubs 2 October)
Blue Jay Way, It's All Too Much, Shirley's Wild Accordion (Mono mixing and recording on the last song 12 October)
Hello Goodbye (Additional recording 19 October)
The Fool On The Hill, Hello Goodbye (Orchestral overdubs 20 October)
Hello Goodbye, The Fool On The Hill (Overdubs and mono mixing 25 October)

On 1 November Geoff returned. Ken Scott was more or less usurped and only came back for a single session (6 November) when they were doing stereo remixes. Now THAT must have caused some issues, eh? Ron