Baby's In Black

AUTHORSHIP Lennon (.5) and McCartney (.5)
Written by John and Paul at Kenwood. Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now
LENNON: "[We wrote it] together, in the same room."
September 1980, All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono

McCARTNEY: "We wanted to write something a little bit darker, bluesy, the title's dark anyway. It's in 3/4 time, one of the first waltzes we wrote, which was interesting for us because most of our stuff's in 4/4. It was very much co-written and we both sang it. Sometimes the harmony that I was writing in sympathy to John's melody would take over and become a stronger melody. Suddenly a piebald rabbit came out of the hat! When people wrote out the music score they would ask, 'Which one is the melody?' because it was so co-written that you could actually take either. We rather liked this one. It was not so much a work job, there was a bit more cred about this one. It's got a good middle." Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now

RECORDED
August 11, 1964, at Abbey Road. It was the first song recorded for the album.

INSTRUMENTATION
McCARTNEY: bass, lead vocal
LENNON: acoustic guitar, lead vocal
HARRISON: lead guitar
STARR: drums, tambourine

MISCELLANEOUS
This song was in the Beatles' live repertoire from 1964 to 1966. The Complete Beatles Chronicle
McCARTNEY: " 'Baby's In Black', we used to put that in there, and think, 'Well, they won't know quite what to make of this but it's cool." Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now