The Beatles Song Paul McCartney Says He and John Lennon Did in ‘Waltz Time’

The Beatles experimented with many different styles of music. “Yer Blues” was the band’s attempt at an American blues song, while songs like “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” saw the band capturing a more folkish sound. One Beatles song Paul McCartney said he and John Lennon wrote in a “waltz time.”

‘Baby’s in Black’ is one of the final songs John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote together

While many songs by The Beatles are credited to the Lennon-McCartney duo, the pair stopped collaborating as often in the band’s later years. The band started writing together on their earliest hits, like “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” However, by 1964, the two were starting to work more independently.

“Baby’s in Black” is a song from 1964’s Beatles for Sale. It’s one of the last songs McCartney and Lennon worked on together. In Many Years From Now, McCartney told Barry Miles that the song was a collaborative effort between the two bandmates. 

It was very much co-written, and we both sang it,” McCartney explained. “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.”

McCartney said he and Lennon wanted to write a song in ‘waltz time’

In Anthology, Paul McCartney explained that he and John Lennon wanted to do “Baby’s in Black” like “waltz time.” They liked to do songs in ¾ time and became known for that. The track also had blues influence, which tracks because famous blues musicians inspired Lennon and McCartney. 

“‘Baby’s In Black’ we did because we like waltz time – we used to do ‘If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody’, a cool 3/4 blues thing,” McCartney said. “And other bands would notice that and say, ‘Shit man, you’re doing something in 3/4.’ So we’d got known for that. And I think also John and I wanted to do something bluesy, a bit darker, more grown-up, rather than just straight pop. It was more ‘baby’s in black’ as in mourning. Our favorite color was black, as well.”

“Baby’s in Black” has a dark meaning

In a 1964 interview with Disc magazine, McCartney explained the title’s meaning. It has a surprisingly dark origin as it’s reportedly referencing a woman who recently lost the love of her life forever. 

“I better explain what John and I meant by this title, hadn’t I?” he said. “The story is about a girl who’s wearing black because the bloke she loves has gone away forever. The feller singing the song fancies her, too, but he’s getting nowhere.”

While it has never been confirmed, there are speculations that the woman McCartney is referencing is Astrid Kirchherr, the German artist, and photographer who The Beatles met while in Hamburg. She was engaged to The Beatles’ former bass player Stuart Sutcliffe, who died in 1962 of a brain hemorrhage.