Janis Joplin – Cry Baby

About The Song

The track was originally performed by Garnett Mims and The Enchanters but only found notoriety when Joplin picked up the mic and added her own capsizing lungs to the track’s proceedings. Recorded by Joplin for her solo record Pearl, the singer would sadly pass away before the single was released in 1971 when it was backed by the B-Side ‘Mercedes Benz’. It remains today as one of the most powerful performances Joplin has ever given.

“So what?” We hear you ask. Well, the difference between Janis Joplin and pretty much every other singer since was that, above all else, she saw herself as a vocal artist, a sonic performer, an actor of music. Joplin was not at the front of the stage for glory or the gold, she put herself under that spotlight so she could use her vocal brush strokes to paint a raw, emotive and impassioned picture of expression. Looking back, there’s truly no better canvas for Joplin than a song like ‘Cry Baby’.

‘Cry Baby’ hangs on Joplin’s delivery. It’s a performance which is perfectly encapsulated in the song’s first fledgeling moments, even more beautifully shown in the video below. As the opening notes kick out, Joplin’s wail sounds guttural yet gilded.

The scene in Toronto is dark and vulnerable, soon Joplin’s eagle-like vocal comes screeching from the mountains, dutifully lit by the spotlight, as the singer goes about delivering a sensational performance.

It’s the beginning of a quite triumphant rendition of the track which not only sees Joplin ad-lib notes on the world around her, both near and far, but also switches from Janis’ wonderful sense of humour to her expression of lost-love pain in a swift and succinct instant, always feeling utterly unique and authentic.

As Joplin continues to find the humour and the pain in every moment of the song it becomes truly apparent that there truly will never be another performer quite like Janis Joplin.

Video

Lyrics

Oh!
Baby, cry baby, cry baby

Honey, welcome back home
I know she told you
Honey, I know she told you that she loved you
Much more than I did

But all I know is that she left you
And you swear that you just don’t know why
But you know, honey I’ll always
I’ll always be around, if you ever want me

Come on and cry, cry baby, cry baby, cry baby

Oh, honey, welcome back home
Don’t you know, honey
Ain’t nobody ever gonna love you
The way I try to do?

Who’ll take all your pain
Honey, your heartache, too?
And if you need me, you know
That I’ll always be around, if you ever want me

Come on and cry, cry baby, cry baby, cry baby
Oh, daddy, like you always saying to do

And when you walk around the world, baby
You said you’d try to look for the end of the road
You might find out later that the road’ll end in Detroit
Honey, the road’ll even end in Kathmandu

You can go all around the world
Trying to find something to do with your life, baby
When you only gotta do one thing well
You only gotta do one thing well to make it in this world, baby

You got a woman waiting for you there
All you ever gotta do is be a good man one time to one woman
And that’ll be the end of the road, baby
I know you got more tears to share, baby

So come on, come on, come on, come on, come on
And cry, cry baby, cry baby, cry

And if you ever feel a little lonely, dear
I want you to come on, come on to your mama now
And if you ever want a little love of a woman

Come on and baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby now
Cry baby, yeah