My Baby Just Cares For Me | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: A /G# /F# /E | D /C# /B /E :||
Verse 1
| A /G# /F# /E | D /C# /B /E |
My baby don’t care for shows.
| A /G# /F# /E | D /C# /B /E |
My baby don’t care for clothes.
| A /G# /F# /E | D /C# /B /E | Bm7 | Bm7 |
My baby just cares for me.
| C#7 | C#7 | F#m7 | F#m7 |
My baby don’t care for cars and races.
| B7 | B7 | E7 N.C | N.C |
My baby don’t care for, high-tone places.
Bridge 1
| A /G# /F# /E | D /C# /B /E |
Liz Taylor is not his style.
| A /G# /F# /E | D /C# /B /E |
And even Lana Turner’s smile.
| A /G# /F# /E | D /C# /B /E | Bm7 | Bm7 |
Is something he can’t see.
| D6 | G#7 | A A7/G | F#7 |
My baby don’t care who knows it.
| Bm7 | E7 |
My baby just cares for me.
Instrumental 1
||: A /G# /F# /E | D /C# /B E7 :|| x3
Solo 1
| A | A | Bm | Bm |
| F#m | F#m | F#m | F#m |
| B7 | B7 | E7 N.C | N.C E7 |
Instrumental 2
||: A /G# /F# /E | D /C# /B /E :||
Solo 2
| A | A | D | D |
| D | G#7 | A A7/G | F#7 |
| Bm7 | E7 | A F#m7 | Bm7 E7 |
Verse 2
Baby, my baby don’t care for shows.
And he don’t even care for clothes.
He cares for me.
My baby don’t care for cars and races.
Baby don’t care for, he don’t care for high-tone places.
Bridge 2
Liz Taylor is not his style.
And even Liberace’s smile.
Is something he can’t see, is something he can’t see.
| D6 | G#7 | C#m7 | F#7 |
I wonder what’s wrong with baby.
| Bm7 | C#m/E Bm/D | A/C# A7/E | F#7 |
My baby just cares for, my baby just cares for.
| Bm7 | E7 | A | A | A | A N.C |
My baby just cares for me.
My Baby Just Cares For Me Chords: Learn the progressions!
We could write My Baby Just Cares For Me‘s chords as new chords, not just indicate them with a bass line, but it would make it more complicated. Here’s what we would get:
| A A/G# F#m7 F#m7/E | D D/C# Bm7 E11 |
Instead of with a bass line as written above with chords and lyrics, like this:
| A /G# /F# /E | D /C# /B /E |
As you can see, it’s easier to write the bass line. You’ll end up with the same chords anyway.
I’ve designed TAB for how to play this and all other sections, including the 1st piano solo on the guitar. Here’s a link to that part of the lesson: My Baby Just Cares For Me – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Here, we focus on the chords so let’s look at what happens next in My Baby Just Cares For Me’s verse chords as they develop after that initial signature descending line into this:
| Bm7 (II) | Bm7 |
| C#7 (IIIx) | C#7 | F#m7 (VI) | F#m7 |
| B7 (IIx) | B7 | E7 (V) N.C | N.C |
Using Roman Numerals, we are looking at a II – IIIx – VI – IIx – V progression, most of this movement uses the up a 4th movement, also known as the cycle of 4th.
The challenge when developing the acoustic guitar arrangement is mainly down to how you walk the bass over these chords (check the TAB!).
The bridge chords (you could also call these sections A and B instead of verse and bridge) start in the same way but then go:
| Bm7 (II) | Bm7 |
| D6 (IV) | G#7 (VIIx) |
| A (I) A7/G | F#7 (VIx) |
| Bm7 (II) | E7 (V) |
These chords move outside the key more than the verse. Bm7 is II, D6 is IV. The G#7 is a VIIx chord, A is I, A7/G is a bluesy I chord taking us to a VIx (F#7), and we finish on II – V.
The solos use new chord progressions, adapted to meet the criteria of the golden ratio (more about this later). These are the chords for solo 1:
| A (I) | A | Bm (II) | Bm |
| F#m (VI) | F#m | F#m | F#m |
| B7 (IIx) | B7 | E7 (V) N.C | N.C E7 |
The movement here was I – II – VI – IIx – V. Here are solo 2‘s chords:
| A (I) | A | D (IV) | D |
| D | G#7 (VIIx) | A A7/G | F#7 (VIx) |
| Bm7 (II) | E7 (V) | A F#m7 (VI) | Bm7 E7 |
The initial change from Bm to D instead is subtle, it’s chord IV instead of II. It’s the last two lines that really go somewhere new.
What you really need here is the TAB and plenty of time. Following this, a simple chord chart will serve as a reminder. Here’s one I made for you, it is over two pages.
My Baby Just Cares For Me Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: My Baby Just Cares For Me Chord Chart PDF, page 1 and My Baby Just Cares For Me Chord Chart PDF, page 1.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: My Baby Just Cares For Me iReal Pro, page 1, and My Baby Just Cares For Me iReal Pro, page 2.
Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key although (and I speak from experience here) I don’t think that sounds like a great idea.
My Baby Just Cares For Me is in 432Hz and hits the golden ratio!
To play along with the original recording, you must tune down to 432 Hz, the magical frequency of the universe!
Once you’re down there, you may never want to go back, it does somehow feel different.
As if hitting the magical frequency of the universe wasn’t enough, My Baby Just Cares For Me also makes use of the golden ratio, 1.618. Mozart was a fan of doing this too and since Nina Simone is a classical music fan, surely, she must have planned it.
After all, she did add the solos to the standard arrangement and that’s what makes it hit that golden ratio.
To calculate the golden ratio in a song we count the number of bars. In the case of My Baby Just Cares For Me, that’s 106 bars. Multiply 106 by 0.618 and you get 65.
Bar 65 starts on the final line of the solo, the big build-up. The idea is to introduce something new, to peak. These are the chords My Baby Just Cares For Me uses as it hits the golden ratio:
| Bm7 (II) | E7 (V) | A (I) F#m7 (VI) | Bm7 (II) E7 (V) |
Can you feel how the song peaks during this chord progression?
My Baby Just Cares For Me Chords | Related Pages
My Baby Just Cares For Me | Guitar Lesson + TAB
With this guitar lesson, you can learn to play My Baby Just Cares For Me by Nina Simone using TAB and chord analysis.
| A /G# /F# /E | D /C# /B /E |
My baby don’t care for shows…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
- Baby Won’t You Please Come Home
- Don’t Wait Too Long
- Dream A Little Dream Of Me
- L-O-V-E
- Why Don’t You Do Right?
Nina Simone tunes
After being rejected to attend a prestigious music college, Nina Simone started playing and singing “The Devil’s Music” in a nightclub.
Her best tunes include My Baby Just Care For Me, Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, Feeling Good, and I Put A Spell On You.
Nina Simone on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about My Baby Just Cares For Me chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
