Cry Like a Baby  "Cry Like a Baby" is a 1968 song written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, and performed by The Box Tops. The song reached #2 in April 1968 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, a position which it held for two weeks. It was kept out of the top spot by Bobby Goldsboro's "Honey", which stayed at #1 for five weeks. "Cry Like a Baby" also reached #2 on "Cashbox" for one week. It stayed on the Hot 100 for 15 weeks and "Cashbox" for 14 weeks. It was awarded a gold disc for selling over one million copies in the United States. Spooner Oldham explained in an interview how the song came to be:  "Cry Like a Baby" features an electric sitar, played by session guitarist Reggie Young. Author Peter Lavezzoli cites this part as an example of the widespread influence of Indian classical music on rock and pop music in the late 1960s, in the wake of the Beatles' popularisation of the sitar in songs such as "Within You Without You", from their 1967 album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". Oldham played keyboards on "Cry Like a Baby" in addition to co-writing it. Chilton, who sang lead vocals on the song, was only 17 years old at the time of recording. This version of the song also features a female backup chorus, a brass section, a string section, bass guitar, organ, piano, and drums. The original recording is available on numerous compilations, including "", "Classic Rock" (Time-Life Music), and "AM Gold" (Time-Life Music). "Billboard" Hot 100 (15 weeks, entered March 2): Reached #2 (2 weeks)  "Cashbox" (14 weeks, entered March 2): 62, 44, 35, 23, 15, 7, 5, 4, 4, 2, 3, 11, 35, 42  Kim Carnes' version of the song spent 8 weeks on US Hot 100 in 1980, peaking at #44.