Beatles: Cry Baby Cry Meaning

Song Released: 1968

Cry Baby Cry Lyrics

Cry baby cry
Make your mother sigh
She's old enough to know better.

The king of Marigold was in the kitchen
Cooking breakfast for the queen
The queen was in the parlour
Playing piano for the children of the king.

Cry baby cry
Make...

1. anonymous

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   Dec 6th 2020 !⃝

   I have know idea what "cry baby cry" is about and couldn't care less. I loved it when it came out in 1969 when I was 13, as much as I love it now at 64 in 2020!!!
   
2. anonymous

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   Nov 29th 2013 !⃝

   It's a simple song about domestic regret, verse to verse the children grow from playdates with friends to adolescence and eventually adulthood. "trouble at the local bird and bee"? They're learning about love. "Séance" they're learning to question their parents/authority.
   Johns' homelife has been depicted as wanting during this period but like any of us I'm sure he loved his son and realized that our time with our children is fleeting. He understands that those moments are soon gone and regrets that his life is pulling him further away. We all feel like we could have done more and John expresses it beautifully in this song.
3. anonymous

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   Jun 7th 2011 !⃝

   This possibly COULD of been another song about Lennon cheating on his wife? He's the King, Cynthia is the Queen.
   
   'The king was in the garden
   Picking flowers for a friend who came to play
   The queen was in the playroom
   Painting pictures for the childrens holiday'
   
   Flowers of romance for a "friend" who came to "play"
   Cynthia was studying art before she became involved with Beatlemania, so this could just be a veiled reference to her.
4. anonymous

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   Jun 4th 2011 !⃝

   I beleive that this song is a satire on the ironic powers of society. Everything in the song is depicted as polar opposite of what they should, for example the adults "'round the table for a seance in the dark" are fooled by the children that make voices "for a laugh." This portrays the children as more wise and has the adults seem naive and childish.
5. anonymous

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   Feb 22nd 2011 !⃝

   That conversation you keep mentioning is not this song, it's revolution 9, the one after it.
6. anonymous

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   May 24th 2010 !⃝

   To me, “Cry Baby Cry,” “Won’t You Take Me Back”, “Revolution 9” and “Good Night” form a unity, in which a baby falls asleep.
   
   In “Cry Baby Cry”, a baby is crying and refusing to sleep, while its mother is trying to improvise a fairy tale to calm it down. She doesn’t do very well, because she’s very tired, so she mixes up images of kings, queens and so forth.
   
   In “Won’t You Take Me Back” the baby is being soothed by a lullabye and starts to fall asleep.
   
   “Revolution 9” is a nonsensical mishmash of noise depicting the mix of images that occur when falling asleep.
   
   “Good Night” depicts the baby and mother finally able to sleep.
7. anonymous

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   Oct 10th 2008 !⃝

   To the above, the conversation is between George Martin and Derek Taylor and is over a bottle of wine.
8. anonymous

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   Jan 13th 2008 !⃝

   This is one of my favorite songs because...have you guys ever heard at the very end of the song, if you turn it up loud enough you hear I think a bit of a conversation by Paul...and I think maybe George. Sounds like an apology. Its only a few lines of dialog...maybe 2 or 3 sentences...but I'm fascinated by it and can't quite figure out what exactly they are saying. So if you have heard it or know anything about it let me know.
9. CroftD1

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   Mar 14th 2006 !⃝

   I always thought it was about the elicit goings on in the royal family. And the cry baby cry was about how it was such a shame. But I might be wrong.
10. capitalist

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    Jan 25th 2006 !⃝

    This is John's response to "Martha My Dear."
    
    So I must retract my comment in my submission under "Martha My Dear" that John was not too bright. Mea culpa. He was just stubborn I guess.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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