Blackbird (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “Blackbird” | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Song by The Beatles | ||
| Album | The Beatles | |
| Released | 22 November 1968 | |
| Recorded | 11 June 1968 | |
| Genre | Folk | |
| Length | 2:18 | |
| Label | Apple Records | |
| Writer | Lennon-McCartney | |
| Producer | George Martin | |
| The Beatles track listing | ||
|
Side one
Side two
Side three
Side four
|
||
| Music sample | ||
"Blackbird" is a Beatles song from double-disc album The Beatles (also known as The White Album). Blackbird was written by Paul McCartney, who was inspired to write this while in Scotland as a reaction to racial tensions escalating in America in the spring of 1968.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Origins
McCartney revealed on PBS's Great Performances (Paul McCartney: Chaos and Creation at Abbey Road), aired in 2006, that the guitar accompaniment for Blackbird was inspired by Bach's Bouree in E minor, a well known classical guitar piece. As kids, he and George Harrison tried to learn Bouree as a "show off" piece. Bouree is distinguished by melody and bass notes played simultaneously on the upper and lower strings. McCartney adapted a segment of Bouree as the opening of "Blackbird," and carried the musical idea throughout the song.
The first night Linda Eastman, who would later become his wife, slept over, McCartney played it to the fans camped outside his house.[2]
[edit] Composition and recording
The song was recorded 11 June 1968 in Abbey Road studios, with George Martin as the producer and Geoff Emerick as the audio engineer.[3] McCartney played a Martin D 28 acoustic guitar. The track includes recordings of a blackbird singing in the background.[3]
The structure of the song is quite uneven, featuring a good amount of free verse phrasing, with the timing varying between 3/4, 4/4 and 2/4 metres. It is in the key of G, with the bass and melody lines on the guitar progressing mostly in parallel tenths, all the while maintaining an open G-drone on the third string. The song is played with a unique combination of fingerpicking and (a kind of) finger-strumming, though the bass notes are always played by the thumb on the downbeat.
The song starts with an intro whose chords progress through I-ii7-I6/3 up to the I chord played an octave higher. The verse begins with the same progression before moving into a long phrase starting on the IV chord with the bass notes ascending in half-steps up to the vi chord, before descending (also in half-steps) back to the IV. They descend still further back to the I chord, before launching into an instrumental interlude, a shortened four-measure recounting of the verse. The second verse follows, though this time it skips the interlude, going directly into the refrain.
An instrumental reprisal of the verse, followed by the refrain (with vocals), leads back into the intro phrase whose last chord is repeatedly played for a couple of measures before making way for the introduction of the birds-chirping overdub. There is another brief instrumental interlude, which contains phrases from the intro and the verse, before going into a reprisal of the first verse and ending with an outro, containing the same sequence of chords as the first interlude.
Besides the vocals, guitar and bird-overdub, the recording also consists of an audible clicking sound that provides the beats of the song. According to Mark Lewisohn, this sound on the track (left channel) which sounds like McCartney's foot tapping is actually a mechanical metronome.[3][4]
In fact, it was indeed Paul's foot tapping, incorrectly identified as a metronome in the past,[dubious ] as the tempo fluctuates between 89 and 94 bpm throughout the song.[citation needed]
[edit] Covers and cultural references
Many bands and performers have made cover versions, including Phish, the Grateful Dead, Billy Preston, Kenny Rankin, Keller Williams, Carly Simon, Bonnie Pink, Arturo Sandoval, Jesse McCartney, Dionne Farris, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Doves, Brad Mehldau, Harpers Bizarre, Bobby McFerrin, Jaco Pastorius, Dave Grohl, John Denver, Dave Matthews Band, O.A.R., Elliott Smith, Justin Hayward, Marillion, and Maria João & Mário Laginha.
Elements of the lyrics ("take these broken wings and learn to fly") have re-appeared in other pop songs over the years, notably the number one hit "Broken Wings" by Mr. Mister and the Savage Garden song, "Gunning Down Romance" from the Affirmation album. Sections of "Blackbird" were incorporated into The Waterboys' cover of the Van Morrison song "Sweet Thing" on their album Fisherman's Blues, and into the end of U2's "Beautiful Day" during their set at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, London on July 2, 2005, as well as some of the shows on the Vertigo Tour. Dynamite Hack references it at the end of their cover of "Boyz-N-The-Hood."
Sarah McLachlan performed it for the soundtrack of the 2001 film I Am Sam.
Evan Rachel Wood performed it in the 2007 film Across the Universe.
Carly Smithson performed it on American Idol on March 18, 2008 during the Beatles second theme night.
Gustavo Santaolalla, a composer, was inspired by "Blackbird" when he wrote "The Wings" for the movie Brokeback Mountain.
Charles Manson took the song, along with "Helter Skelter" and "Piggies", as a metaphor for black-white race relations in the United States, which purportedly inspired his murders.[2]
Sara Gazarek wrote a medley of "Blackbird" and "Bye Bye Blackbird" that appears on her 2005 debut album, "Yours".
Cris Barber covered "Blackbird" on her 2008 album entitled "This Moment to Be Free", a line taken from the song.
[edit] Personnel
- Paul McCartney: Acoustic Guitar, Vocal, and Tapes
[edit] Notes
- ^ Everett, Walter (1999). The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver through the Anthology. New York, London: Oxford University Press, 190. ISBN 978-0-19-512941-0.
- ^ a b MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties, Second Revised Edition, London: Pimlico (Rand), 291-292. ISBN 1-844-13828-3.
- ^ a b c Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books, 137. ISBN 0-517-57066-1.
- ^ What Goes On - The Beatles Anomalies List.
