Baby's in Black

Death comes into the lyric (Mourning implied by black dress), which is uncommon for them, set against the motifs of relationship and loneliness. Formally it is written in the third person, which the Beatles used more in 1966 than in any other year. Worth noting, the title mentions a colour ("black"), and the language is built on a limited vocabulary. Fun fact, the line "What can I do" turns up in 3 Beatles songs, among them 'Baby It's You' and 'Got to Get You into My Life'.

In A major at roughly 92 BPM, 'Baby's in Black' is a country and folk rock song with Everly Brothers influences underneath (Lennon and McCartney sang the duet into one microphone to lock the blend). The record features string bending (Harrison's solo and fills built on bends and slurs), and it has a guitar solo. It is a 12-bar blues, one of 32 in the catalogue, such as 'Chains' and 'Money (That's What I Want)'. One for the curious, the chords run D7 → E7 → A → D → A → E, which is 'You've Got to Hide Your Love Away''s F → G → C → F → C → G in another key. The meter is 12/8, not the usual four.

Cut in 14 takes at EMI Studio 2, with John and Paul sharing a microphone face-to-face to capture the Beatles' twined harmony in a single performance. That Gibson J-160E is Lennon acoustic, in use since 1962 and heard on 66 Beatles records in all, such as 'P.S. I Love You' and 'Ask Me Why'. It was made with close mic'ing and double tracked vocal, the latter 1964 being the year it turns up most. 1964 brought 35 songs, and this was the 20th of them, the 54th record of their career.

Lennon and McCartney wrote it, the two of them share the lead, as they do on 'All Together Now' and 'Thank You Girl'. It sticks to the roles they usually take, with Lennon on acoustic guitar, McCartney on bass, Harrison on electric guitar and Starr on drums. Lennon is credited with the lower harmony.

The song was released December 4, 1964, as part of Beatles For Sale. America got it eleven days later, on Beatles '65, put out by Capitol. This track was the 24th of 35 released in that year, and the 58th in the order they were recorded.