“Baby, Don’t You Cry”
Song by Ray Charles
“Baby, Don’t You Cry” was originally recorded in 1943 by Buddy Johnson, and Ray Charles covered it on his 1964 album Sweet And Sour Tears. (That album also contained the similarly-titled “Don’t Cry, Baby”; be careful not to mistake the two.)
Featuring “the new Swingova rhythm”, which Ray was trying to make catch on at the time (it’s a kind of extra-jittery Bo Diddley beat), “Baby, Don’t You Cry” is a bouncy number with a fluid movement through its verses. Saxophones shoot out very short spikes to underscore that beat, which is tapped out busily from the get-go. The song was arranged by Sid Feller.
The song is a cold and unsympathetic declaration to a woman who the singer is leaving, whose crying isn’t changing his mind:
No matter what you say
I’m gonna leave you right away
So now baby, baby don’t you cry
After all, he reminds her, breaking up was originally her idea. Now that the time has actually come, there’s no sense in crying over it.
Each verse contains a fair amount of drama, as the brass slowly gets louder and more urgent. Ray’s singing voice does so as well, and each time he finally yells out the song’s title, the trumpets call out shrilly to underscore the sense of strength and impending freedom swirling in the lyrics.
The song’s title is rendered on both the album cover, the LP record label, and the 45 single label as “Baby, Don’t You Cry (The New SWINGOVA Rhythm)”, as if the parenthetical hype were part of the song’s actual name. To make good on that promise, at one point the instruments all drop away, leaving only the woodblock beat doing its thing. Over this, Ray Charles cackles dementedly, evidently trying to draw attention to it.
This was shortly after the era of the Twist, which completely took over music for a year or two, and people were trying to get in on the action by pushing new fad dances and rhythms. Not sure if that’s what Swingova was supposed to be, but at any rate the choppy element does enhance “Baby, Don’t You Cry” somewhat, giving it a unique aspect not usually a part of Ray’s other concurrent music (except other “New SWINGOVA Rhythm” songs).
Single releases
“Baby, Don’t You Cry”
b/w
“My Heart Cries For You”
Listen to “Baby, Don’t You Cry”
Get your own “Baby, Don’t You Cry” on 45, LP, CD or MP3 from Amazon. Or get the out-of-print complete ABC singles 5xCD box set.
Songs on Sweet And Sour Tears