Cry Baby Cry by The Beatles

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 10 · Sections: 11

Form: Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Chorus → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). This page shows that transcription as-is: the analysis below is generated directly from it by code, not written by AI. Consecutive repeats of a chord are shown once, and the piano voicings are our playable arrangement of each chord symbol, not a note-for-note transcription.

Key changes

• Verse 1 moves to E minor.
• Chorus 2 moves to G major.
• Verse 2 moves to E minor.
• Chorus 3 moves to G major.
• Verse 3 moves to E minor.
• Chorus 4 moves to G major.
• Verse 4 moves to E minor.
• Chorus 5 moves to G major.

Section by section

Chorus 1

• G – Am – F – G – Em – A – F
  I – ii – bVII – I – vi – II – bVII

Verse 1

• Em – E♭aug – G/D – C♯m7♭5 – C7 – G – Em – E♭aug – G/D – C♯m7♭5 – C7
  i – bI+ – bIII⁶₄ – viø7 – bVI7 – bIII – i – bI+ – bIII⁶₄ – viø7 – bVI7

Chorus 2

• G – Am – F – G – Em – A – F – G
  I – ii – bVII – I – vi – II – bVII – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 5

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Chorus 6

• Am – F – G – Em – A – F – G
  ii – bVII – I – vi – II – bVII – I

Outro

• Am – F – G – Em – A – F – Em – Fm
  ii – bVII – I – vi – II – bVII – vi – bvii

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• F (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). Expert chord and structure annotation of the original recording (CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo).
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.