In 1968, The Beatles released their 4-headed monster known as The White Album. Side two of the album featured the beautiful “Blackbird”, an intimate acoustic song written by Paul McCartney. The short song is a solo piece by McCartney, just like “Yesterday”. In this article, we will dive into the story, meaning, and legacy behind the iconic song.
The Story Behind the Song
Paul McCartney wrote “Blackbird” shortly after his return from India, where the Beatles studied Transcendental Meditation in Rishikesh. At the time of writing the song, he resided on his farm in Scotland.
According to McCartney, the origin behind “Blackbird” was Bach’s “Bourrée in E minor”. Paul McCartney and George Harrison learned the song as kids and used it as a show-off piece to prove they had more ‘in them’ as musicians. An adapted part of the Bourrée functioned as the introduction of “Blackbird”.
“Bach was always one of our favorite composers;” McCartney said in his book Many Years From Now. “We felt we had a lot in common with him. For some reason, we thought his music was very similar to ours and we latched on to him amazingly quickly.
“We also liked the stories of him being the church organist and wopping this stuff out weekly, which was rather similar to what we were doing.”
Read more: 10 Popular Songs That Were Inspired by Classical Music
The introduction of “Blackbird” also sounds strikingly similar to another classical piece: “Etude, Op. 60, No. 19” by Fernando Sor. In fact, Sor’s piece resembles considerably more with “Blackbird” than Bach’s “Bourrée in E minor”. It may be completely accidental, but it is certainly noteworthy.
Listen to “Etude, Op. 60, No. 19” by Fernando Sor below!
The Meaning of the Song
“Blackbird” is a song about black women facing oppression in the United States during the Civil Rights struggle of the 1960s. The song’s title is symbolic for black girl.
“I had in mind a black woman, rather than a bird,” McCartney said in his book Many Years From Now. “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 say ‘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.”
The Legacy of Blackbird
Paul McCartney recorded “Blackbird” in June 1968. He performed it solo, accompanied by guitar. The song also features blackbird sounds, which were extracted from Abbey Road’s sounds collection. The metronome-like tapping you hear on the recording is most likely McCartney’s foot.
The song was released as part of The White Album on 22 November 1968. “Blackbird” is seen as one of the highlights of the album, which would eventually sell over 12 million copies in the United States alone.
Read more: The 10 Best Beatles Songs of All Time
Over the years, “Blackbird” grew out to be a Beatles essential. It’s one of the most popular songs to learn on guitar for players who want to pick up fingerstyle. Dave Grohl agrees: “Just learning (‘Blackbird’) made me a better guitar player and gave me a better appreciation of songwriting. To me it’s just musical bliss.”
Interested in more stories behind The Beatles songs? Click here
You’re entitled to your opinion,of course, but by 1968 The Beatles, as well as just about every other musical act, wanted to sing more than just love songs. They wanted to address the important issues of the day, at least in some of their songs. McCartney has been criticized for his “silly love songs.” And you are critisizing him for writing deep, political songs. I guess the old saying is true: You’re damned if you do and….
I was referring to Denis’ comment. Not the article.
I prefer love songs not politics how about lyrics about a black women and their beauty their strength in romance as a woman rather then go to the horror of those times does a black woman have to be known for that they are beautiful women praising their charms of a woman in love would have been better I’m no song writer but the ugliness of those days are forgotten because of black women their strength and love to overcome the past instead of a song writer clinging to those ugly days that created hardships for their people.