Baby's In Black

The song describes someone who feels helpless because the woman he cares about is grieving for another man. She keeps thinking about the absent man, while the speaker thinks about her and longs for her attention. The repeated question, “What can I do?” makes the speaker’s frustration and sadness feel persistent, with little change by the end.

Black clothing is an important image: it suggests mourning or deep sadness, though the lyrics do not explain exactly why she wears it. “Feeling blue” is an idiom meaning feeling sad, and it echoes her black clothes, linking both characters to sorrow. The speaker calls her focus on the absent man a “whim,” suggesting he sees it as temporary or mistaken, but this may reveal his own impatience rather than the truth of her feelings.

The speaker hopes she will recognize a “mistake” and turn toward him, yet the song leaves open whether she will ever do so. His concern may be genuine, but it is also mixed with jealousy and self-interest: he wants her to stop thinking of someone else. Her grief is presented through his perspective, so we cannot know whether her attachment is truly a passing whim or something more lasting.