"Cry Baby" is a song originally recorded by Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters, in 1963, and later recorded by rock singer Janis Joplin in 1970. Bert Berns wrote the song with Jerry Ragovoy. Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters recorded it for the United Artists record label. It topped the R&B chart and went to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1963, and paved the way for soul hits by Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding later in the decade. The third verse was spoken by Mimms until the repeated refrain of the repeated song title.

In September and October 1970, Janis Joplin recorded it for her album Pearl, posthumously released in 1971. The song was in blues-rock style and its producer was Paul A. Rothchild. On the single, the B-side was the track, "Mercedes Benz".

Lyrics

Cry baby, cry baby, cry baby,

Honey, welcome back home.

I know she told you,

Honey I know she told you that she loved you

Much more than I did,

But all I know is that she left you,

And you swear that you just don't know why,

But you know, honey I'll always,

I'll always be around if you ever want me

Come on and cry, cry baby, cry baby, cry baby,

Oh honey, welcome back home.

Don't you know, honey,

Ain't nobody ever gonna love you

The way I try to do ?

Who'll take all your pain,

Honey, your heartache, too ?

And if you need me, you know

That I'll always be around if you ever want me

Come on and cry, cry baby, cry baby, cry baby,

Oh daddy, like you always saying to do.

And when you walk around the world, babe,

You said you'd try to look for the end of the road,

You might find out later that the road'll end in Detroit,

Honey, the road'll even end in Kathmandu.

You can go all around the world

Trying to find something to do with your life, baby,

When you only gotta do one thing well,

You only gotta do one thing well to make it in this world, babe.

You got a woman waiting for you there,

All you ever gotta do is be a good man one time to one woman

And that'll be the end of the road, babe,

I know you got more tears to share, babe,

So come on, come on, come on, come on, come on,

And cry, cry baby, cry baby, cry baby.

And if you ever feel a little lonely, dear,

I want you to come on, come on to your mama now,

And if you ever want a little love of a woman

Come on and baby baby baby babe babe baby now

Cry baby yeah.