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Baby's in Black
Composer(s) : Lennon and McCartney
Year : 1964
Chords/Tabs: Baby's in Black
Notes on "Baby's In Black" (BIB)
KEY A Major
METER 3/4
FORM Intro -> Refrain -> Verse -> Refrain -> Verse ->
Bridge -> Refrain -> Refrain (guitar solo) ->
Bridge -> Refrain -> Verse -> Refrain (w/complete ending)
GENERAL POINTS OF INTEREST
Style and Form
- Formalistically, this is among the more verbose and complicated songs
we've looked at, with its refrain, bridge, and guitar solo sections.
While The Beatles didn't go in for this sort of thing very often,
neither is such a form unprecedented. Examples uncovered thus far
in our studies include "It Won't Be Long",
"When I Get Home", and
"You're Going To Lose That Girl". The fact that the preceding list
is entirely built out of songs that conspicuously belong to John
would seem noteworthy.
- Stylistically, the song has an unusual mishmash of elements -- the
bluesy tune and choice of chords; the folksy almost hillbilly vocal
arrangement; not to mention the exotic touch in the final verse where
those drone-like open fifths in the bass parts conjure, to my ears,
a strange musical cross between Scottish bagpipes and an Indian
tamboura.
- John described it as a waltz (check his spoken lead into the song at
the Paris concerts in January '65), but in spite of the 3/4 time
signature, the rapid tempo and agitated mood of the piece seem out
of character with that romantic dance form.
Melody and Harmony
- The melodic mode is almost entirely Major with the exception of
some intermittment use of the bluesy minor third in the refrain.
- Very few chords are used throughout and the song remains firmly
rooted in the initial home key. The refrain and verse sections
limit themselves to the familiar I-IV-V chords. Although the
bridge adds in the vi and V-of-V for variety, its still all simple
stuff.
- The one notable harmonic detail is the familiar Beatles trademark
of directly following V-of-V with IV instead of V. Early and
contemporary examples of this are to be found in "She Loves You"
"I Call Your Name" and
"Eight Days A Week".
Arrangement
- There's an unusual unrelieved end-to-end vocal duet with John on
bottom and Paul on top. This relative lack of textural variety
here increases the tension and intensity of the mood. Note though
how in spite of the predominance of parallel thirds in the two
voice parts, there are several places in which they subtly branch
out into a more typically Lennon/McCartney kind of counterpoint;
check out the end of the refrain and the opening of the bridge.
- The instrumental texture is similarly consistent throughout,
though in a wise attempt to avoid monotony and provide a bit
of contrast, they make a temporarily radical change to the
backing for the final verse before resuming the original
texture for the closing refrain; an effect which would be
repeated with equal success in "Help!".
SECTION-BY-SECTION WALKTHROUGH
Intro
- The intro is a scant four measures long and creates the effect of
your having walked in on the middle of the song, just as it was
coming out of a refrain section:
|A |E |A |- |
A: I V I
- The guitar hook heard right at the beginning anticipates a key
phrase of the tune ("Oh, what can I do") and provides a means of
unification from the way it is repeated at the end of every refrain
except for the second one. The fourth refrain, by the way, presents
the guitar hook in a different range than elsewhere, and I have a
hard time deciding weather this is avoidance of foolish consistency
or just sloppy playing.
Refrain
- The refrain is twelve measures long and is built out of three phrases
equal in length:
|A |- |E |- ||D |- |E |- ||
A: I V IV V
|A |D |A |- |
I IV I
- The melodic shape is an inverted arch. The harmonic shape is closed.
The chords are the familiar I-IV-V of the blues form though the
progression pattern is far from the traditional one of that form.
Verse
- The verse is an unusual fourteen measures long and built out of three
phrases whose number of measures create an asymmetrical pattern of
4+4+6:
|A |- |- |- |
I
|A |- |D |- |
(V-of-IV) IV
|D |- |A |E |A |- |
I V I
- Again, the harmonic shape of the section is closed, though the
strategy of the chords *not* changing on the phrase boundaries
creates a subtle sense of freedom.
- For those who are keeping score of such things, note the "and/but"
word collision in the final verse. This one is even picked up by
the compilers of the lyrical concordance, "Things We Said Today."
However, I believe that if you listen carefully, it also sounds like
their is another collision (this time on "he/she") immediately
following, though this one sounds as though it is perhaps a residue
from an earlier guide vocal track that they were trying to mix out.
Bridge
- The bridge is eight measures long and would appear on the surface
to be made up of two phrases equal in length:
|f# |- |B |- |D |- |E |- ||A
ii V-of-V IV V I
- Actually, the second phrase carries all the way through into the
beginning of the ninth measure, where it makes a striking ellision
with the start of the next refrain. It's an unusual example of
this technique, even for the Boys, because even the *words* here
are ellided at the point where the two sections intersect; e.g.
"made...dear" instead of "Oh, dear".
- The overall melodic range is cleverly managed. The frequently
repeated refrain contains the unique low point of the tune, but
it also reiterates a constricted high point on the pitch 'E' almost
to the point of monotony. The verse sections open the high end up as
far as 'G', but these sections even more so emphasize the same harping
on 'E' heard in the refrains. The climactic peak of the song (on the
pitch 'A') is held back and dramatically released right at the start
of the bridge.
Guitar Solo
- For a guy who made such a specialty of the well-practiced kind of
solo that is the most understated delicate paraphrase of the tune,
George really lets go here with a solo whose only obvious connection
to the original refrain melody is to be found in the lilting cadence
of its rhythmic pattern. Otherwise, in place of the predominantly
stepwise melodic arch performed by the singers, we get a guitar
part that is not only full of long jumps, but is also peppered through
with bent notes and free dissonances against the underlying chords;
all in all, a worthy contrast with the surrounding sections.
SOME FINAL THOUGHTS
- To the extent that the common wisdom seems to obssess on the
"downbeat" mood of the _For Sale_ album, I suppose that its
the implicitly lugubrious nature of the words to "Baby's In Black"
that may have contributed more so to this phenomenon
than any one other song.
- Personally, I've never been swayed too much by that. For one
thing, it has always seemed easy enough to simply interpret the
mourning described in the lyric as figurative, rather than literal.
And when all else fails, I still find it difficult to get hung
about a song that sounds so similar in a way to the traditional
folk ditty, "Oh dear what can the matter be ?"; no matter *how*
gamey the words may be :-).
Regards,
Alan (awp@bitstream.com *OR* uunet!huxley!awp)
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"How do you like your girlfriends to dress ? 061692#59
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Copyright (c) 1992 by Alan W. Pollack
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