Cry me a River

**petcre** · 08-28-2009, 03:44 AM

Anybody know Barney Kessel's version of Cry me a River he did for Julie London?

**petcre** · 08-29-2009, 10:06 AM

Thanks for that and you may like this version which is very near and a good player as well

**gravyTrain** · 08-30-2009, 02:22 PM

Theo: I took the liberty of rescoring what you posted and saved it as a pdf for better readability (the image was not terribly clear). Attached below.

**gtr_5155** · 08-30-2009, 03:59 PM

I'm giving away my age,but when I was just a beginner,I went nuts over this song.It was featured in the movie "The Girl Can't Help it" Of course I had no idea (at the time) who played that fantastic guitar behind Julie London.I wanted to learn rock stuff,but this opened me up to a bigger world.No internet back then.I spent a lot of time learning that intro.

**gravyTrain** · 08-30-2009, 04:30 PM

Originally Posted by gtr_5155

...when I was just a beginner,I went nuts over this song.It was featured in the movie "The Girl Can't Help it" Of course I had no idea (at the time) who played that fantastic guitar behind Julie London.I wanted to learn rock stuff,but this opened me up to a bigger world.No internet back then.I spent a lot of time learning that intro.

I think this is one of those ageless songs. My daughter walked by as I was typing the score in, and she said that would be a great song for her chorus (she's a teenager). So I played her the original song and the Emma Fitzgerald version and she really liked it.

Ironic that it isn't included in the Real Book. To me it sounds as though it was the motivation for several other songs, for instance; the James Bond song, and 'Dream On' by Aerosmith.

**johno427** · 08-31-2009, 12:45 AM

Diana Krall: Cry me a river

**petcre** · 09-01-2009, 04:05 AM

Thanks for that Gravy train as i couldn,t make out the first score myself . This is much clearer. Nice to see also how many other people have helped me out here and also love this guitar work.

**petcre** · 09-02-2009, 03:44 AM

Hi Gravy train:
The Am7/F# root in bar 4. I find this an impossible fingering chord to get every note clean as the only way i can see it being done is to cover the two top notes with your second finger. What fingering did you use?

**gravyTrain** · 09-03-2009, 06:02 PM

Originally Posted by petcre

Hi Gravy train:
The Am7/F# root in bar 4. I find this an impossible fingering chord to get every note clean as the only way i can see it being done is to cover the two top notes with your second finger. What fingering did you use?

I just play the top 4 strings Am7... I left the other notes because they were in the other score

**JohnW400** · 09-03-2009, 10:28 PM

Originally Posted by petcre

Hi Gravy train:
The Am7/F# root in bar 4. I find this an impossible fingering chord to get every note clean as the only way i can see it being done is to cover the two top notes with your second finger. What fingering did you use?

The fingering is 41322 or hook your thumb for the F#.

Chord fingerings like this are in the Mickey Baker book. I agree with Gravy Trane though. Especially with the G being a minor 9th away

**danish1953** · 09-08-2009, 10:47 AM

thank you! these post will keep me busy for days!

**DonnyK** · 09-17-2009, 11:41 AM

One of my favourite songs of all time. My favourite version (from the old Blues, jazz, folksman - Davy Graham):

**grouts** · 09-21-2009, 06:20 PM

Re the handling of Am7/F#, one needs to remember that Kessel was probably not thinking 'chord', but a Am7 underlying the dissonant little melody note, that threaded through to the A(flat)m7 transition to the Em as Julie Christie started to sing. Playing Kessel things (that you learn e.g. from his records), you really want to separate the notes of his (counter or background) melody notes from the underlying chord pieces. Also watch him play what you are trying to learn - You will see his 1st or 4th finger often just reach over and get the next note of that transition melody ... SomeHow! ... and just keep going. If you can read the music of the Kessel song you are trying to learn, that's a nice plus, but one needs to keep track of the often-several pieces of chorded-melodies passing each other, and make sure they come through as you play them.
... Its (very?) hard to put all that into a particular transcription. But when you do put it together so it sounds like Kessel's way, then you will probably have a big grin!
Also, as you work with teaching your hand to do a particular part, you may find as I did, that Kessel's nice handy little 2-3 finger cluster chords and short 'inside' barre chords (e.g. a 4-th finger barre) are very useful pieces of chording you can use anytime you are comping with a couple of other players. I know everyone knows this, but always try to learn a whole 3-4+ bar phrase at a time, and your hand/head will more quickly later just starting using that chord-pieces-phrasing as you play other songs, especially when playing with others.
...Sorry for the long post. -Steve Grout

**Sailor** · 09-21-2009, 08:36 PM

Nice Thread. Love Cry Me A River. I think I've been playing it in Cm.

**mr. beaumont** · 01-15-2010, 12:36 PM

have you guys heard jim campilongo do this one with norah jones? killer.

**Leon Rodriguez** · 01-15-2010, 01:18 PM

Even better!
or Joe Pass and Ella

**gersdal** · 01-18-2010, 02:24 PM

I'm not an expert on guide tones for improvising (Ed Byrne stuff), but I've made an attempt to indicate those for Cry me a river:

Cry me a river guide tones.pdf

I also added a comping suggestion:
Cry me a river comping.pdf

Comments are welcome

**Oetomo** · 01-18-2010, 10:47 PM

First of all, thanks to the person who posted the pdf file for this song.
I am trying to figure my way out and just like everyone else I got stuck in bar number 4 with the impossible fingerings. I am using classical guitar so there is no possibility of me hooking my thumb over without going for surgical thumb extension.
Having said that, I am curious to know whether this is a chord melody arrangement or an accompaniment for a singer?

**gersdal** · 01-19-2010, 04:13 AM

Originally Posted by Oetomo

First of all, thanks to the person who posted the pdf file for this song.

You're welcome.

Originally Posted by Oetomo

I am trying to figure my way out and just like everyone else I got stuck in bar number 4 with the impossible fingerings..

Are your questions directed to my postings, or something older? Bar 4 is easy in my suggestion.

Anyway, I'll answer your questions:

Originally Posted by Oetomo

I am using classical guitar so there is no possibility of me hooking my thumb over without going for surgical thumb extension.

I don't use my thumb, at least not in bar 4. I occationally find my thumb on the 6th string for the AØ7 chords, but not at all neccessary.

Originally Posted by Oetomo

Having said that, I am curious to know whether this is a chord melody arrangement or an accompaniment for a singer?

Comping is short for accompaniment. Could be for a singer, or could be for an other instrument.

I'm not that much into chord melody at the moment

**markylove** · 10-12-2010, 10:39 PM

great! i kinda forget playing cry me a river because as i have remembered, i last play it 5years ago.

**mambosun** · 12-02-2010, 07:40 PM

Not only "Cry me a river" has a nice guitar playing in it;
Have a listen to all the other titles from the album "Julie is her name".and enjoy..

**SHR** · 02-01-2011, 04:44 PM

First of all, thanks to the posters on this thread for this transciption, which I've been enjoying immensely and learning a lot from. Also, I'm grateful to this thread for putting me on to those Julie London albums - I've heard Cry Me a River a hundred times but had no idea there was a whole album of the stuff.

I feel a bit foolish for asking this, because the people on here are much more experienced musicians than me and I can't claim to have much of an ear -- so this is probably completely wrong -- but I've been playing this against the record over and over again, and to my ears, G sounds better than F sharp on the first notes. The F sharp lacks that slight dissonance I hear at the start of the record.