markus heuger's
beabliography

Beabliography

Abstract 0383

Koskimäki, Jouni (2001), "Variations as the key principle in the vocal parts of 'Cry Baby Cry'." In: Yrjö Heinonen, Markus Heuger, Sheila Whitely, Terhi Nurmesjärvi and Jouni Koskimäki (eds.), Beatlestudies 3. Proceedings of the Beatles 2000 conference. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä (Department of Music, Research Reports 23), 2001, 255-269.

According to many quotations, the Beatles tried to make every song somehow different from the others they had made. To quote George Martin: "We were always trying different things, and that's why you'd get a varying quality." it would be interesting to explore whether this desire to different exists also within an individual song, especially concerning individual instrumental parts. Because of the large amount of the songs they released, it is not possible to study each song from that particular point of view. So it seems better to begin with individual cases: in this article the case is John Lennon's "Cry Baby Cry" from the year 1968. One aim of this article is to demonstrate how the principle of arrangement is used in "Cry Baby Cry". Another aim is to develop a method of making a reliable full score transcription with the use of computer.

The analysis of individual instrumental parts requires a reliable and detailed full score transcription. Because there is no such transcription of the song available, the first task was to make an accurate transcription. This was done as follows: the main part of the method was to test different instrumental parts with (the little help from) computer. The MIDI-information (notation) was played simultaneously with the original music, in this case with the CD. The parts were also tested with an "analogical" technique: that is, by playing the real instruments together with the CD.

The song consists of two sections (A and B) and there are all together eight different A sections and seven different B sections. The variation is overwhelming through the song in almost every instrumental part, especially in the bass and drums. For example the B section is based on the chord progression G - Am / F - G / Em - A / F - G, and each time the bass part is played rhythm and melody differently. The variation is even more apparent in the A sections, where each repetition is based on a different musical idea.

On the basis of the analysis, it is obvious that the principle of ever changing variation is the very core idea of the arrangement and construction of the individual instrumental parts of "Cry Baby Cry". Another question is whether this principle is a permanent feature of their style. If so, it would be interesting to explore to what degree this ever-present variation is indeed the thing an sich — one explanation for the fact that the music of the Beatles has remained and still appears to be so fresh after thirty years or more.