Blackbird by The Beatles (1968)

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Blackbird by The Beatles

Black Bird becomes a track from the Beatles’ 1968 double album The Beatles, also known as the White Album. The song was written by Paul McCartney and credited to both Lennon-McCartney. The song was inspired by hearing the call of a blackbird in Rishikesh, India, said the English rock band personil, McCartney, and by the unfortunate state of race relations in the United States in the 1960s. Black Bird was also performed as a solo by McCartney. [1]

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Key Lyrics

Blackbird singing in the dead of night

Take these broken wings and learn to fly

All your life

You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Blackbird singing in the dead of night

Take these sunken eyes and learn to see

All your life

You were only waiting for this moment to be free

Blackbird fly, blackbird fly

Into the light of the dark black night [2]

Black Empowerment

The song is like McCartney's hopeful essay on the Civil Rights Movement and the “End of Racism in America.” [3]

In 2002, McCartney discussed about the song with KCRW DJ Chris Douridas, saying:

I had been doing some [poetry readings] in the last year or so because I've got a poetry book out called Blackbird Singing, and when I would read "Blackbird", I would always try and think of some explanation to tell the people … So, I was doing explanations, and I actually just remembered why I'd written "Blackbird", you know, that I'd been, I was in Scotland playing on my guitar, and I remembered this whole idea of "you were only waiting for this moment to arise" was about, you know, the black people's struggle in the southern states, and I was using the symbolism of a blackbird. It's not really about a blackbird whose wings are broken, you know, it's a bit more symbolic. [4]

The song focuses on the racial strife in the 1960s in South America. McCartney confirmed that the song is for a black woman who experiencing the problems in the States: "‘Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith; there is hope.’” Quoted from Many Years from Now by Barry Miles, Sir McCartney talked and inspired behind the song:

I had in mind a black woman, rather than a bird. Those were the days of the civil rights movement, which all of us cared passionately about, so this was really a song from me to a black woman, experiencing these problems in the States: “Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith; there is hope.” As is often the case with my things, a veiling took place, so rather than saying, “Black woman living in Little Rock” and be very specific, she became a bird, became symbolic, so you could apply it to your particular problem. [5]

References

  1. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbird_(Beatles_song) Blackbird Beatles song). wikipedia.org. Retrieved January 26, 2021
  2. Blackbird The Beatles. genius.com. Retrieved January 26, 2021
  3. Blackbird The Beatles. genius.com. Retrieved January 26, 2021
  4. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbird_(Beatles_song) Blackbird Beatles song). wikipedia.org. Retrieved January 26, 2021
  5. What the Beatles Song 'Blackbird' Was Really About. January 16, 2017. audubon.org. Retrieved January 26, 2021