| Baby, Stop Crying | |
| Cover: | Baby Stop Crying cover.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Bob Dylan |
| Album: | Street Legal |
| B-Side: | New Pony |
| Released: | 31 July 1978 (US single) |
| Recorded: | April 1978 |
| Genre: | Rock |
| Length: | 5:17 |
| Label: | Columbia |
| Producer: | Don DeVito |
| Prev Title: | Is Your Love in Vain? |
| Prev Year: | 1978 |
| Next Title: | Changing of the Guards |
| Next Year: | 1978 |
"Baby, Stop Crying" is a song written by Bob Dylan, released in the summer of 1978 as a single and in a longer album version on Street Legal. The song charted at #13 in the UK and was a top-ten song in much of Europe, although it failed to chart in the United States.[1]
The song's narrator is a desperate man attempting to play the role of consoler to a despairing woman, asking her for a pistol in the opening verse, and claiming he "can't tell right from wrong".[2] Commenting on the content of this song, Dylan once said, "The man in that song has his hand out and is not afraid of getting it bit".[3]
Dylan scholar Tony Attwood sees the song as having lyrical roots in Robert Johnson's "Stop Breaking Down".[4]
Like many of the tracks from Street Legal, "Baby, Stop Crying" features a saxophone and a trio of female backup singers. According to Billboard the female voices provide an "exciting counterpoint" to Dylan's "raspy" vocal performance.[5] Cash Box said that it "has a tight, repetitive hook, backing singers, strong sax solo and organ work."[6] Record World said that "Old fans will lean toward [Dylan's] customary throaty vocals while new audiences might latch on to the high female background singing that gives it just a touch of r&b."[7]
Dylan performed the song live in concert 39 times. All performances were in 1978.[8]
Jam the Jazzfest (1998)