It was no accident that Paul McCartney’s “Blackbird” was written in the folk idiom. While its subject matter was slightly obscured by a soft-focus gauze, McCartney’s song returned us to an era when folk music helped spread the civil rights message in the United States. McCartney’s tendency to a gentle lyrical approach meant that this was no “Going Down to Mississippi” or “We Shall Overcome”, but clearly this was not a ditty about a perky garden bird. “Blackbird” was ripe with a folk singer’s longing for change.
Released in 1968 on The Beatles, aka The White Album, and judiciously sequenced as blessed relief between John Lennon’s groaning “I’m So Tired” and George Harrison’s blunt parody “Piggies”, “Blackbird” was sparked by birdsong McCartney had heard while learning meditation in Rishikesh, India. He based the melody on JS Bach’s “Bourrée in E Minor”, which was then in the rock zeitgeist: the same piece was played by Jethro Tull. The singer Donovan taught McCartney the fingerpicking technique used on “Blackbird”, which facilitated the song’s subtle style. The title was perhaps less subtle when one considers 1960s slang: McCartney had an African-American woman in mind when he wrote it.
McCartney later cited the Little Rock Nine as an inspiration for “Blackbird”. In 1957, nine black students had attempted to enrol at a segregated school in Arkansas. State governor Oravl Faubus banned the Nine and deployed the National Guard to stop them entering the school; they were viciously attacked by white protesters. President Dwight D Eisenhower intervened, taking control of the Arkansas National Guard. After a protracted legal wrangle between Faubus and the federal government, the latter prevailed in August 1959, though the Nine still faced violence and intimidation from Caucasian “fellow” students. McCartney was not the only artist who commented on these events: jazz composer Charles Mingus offered “Fables of Faubus”, and Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén wrote “Little Rock” about segregation in the US.
The version of “Blackbird” on The Beatles suggested intimacy: McCartney was the only musician on the track, and the percussion on the record is his tapping feet, miked-up by recording engineer Geoff Emerick. “Blackbird” proved infectious: it is reckoned to be one of the top 10 most covered songs. Jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis used it to close his LP of White Album tunes, Mother Nature’s Son. Synthesiser pioneer Dick Hyman’s chirpy reworking on his 1969 album The Age of Electronicus featured a metronome that sounded more like a cuckoo than Turdus merula. The song suited a funky soul makeover from Sisters Love in 1970, and Billy Preston, The Beatles’ keyboardist towards the end of their career, delivered a typically ebullient version two years later.
“Blackbird” lent itself easily to reggae in an elegant 1973 rendition by The Paragons with Roslyn Sweat. Crosby, Stills & Nash played it at Woodstock in 1969 and recorded it that year, though the recording was shelved until 1991. Neil Diamond and Carly Simon were among dozens more who ate “Blackbird” pie. The Dandy Warhols’ 2003 “Welcome to the Monkey House”, a gripe at ignorance and incestuousness in the music business, promised they would cover “Blackbird” when Michael Jackson died, and they did so in 2009. Jackson had owned ATV Music, which held The Beatles’ publishing rights.
In 2016 Paul McCartney met Elizabeth Eckford and Thelma Mothershed Wair of the Little Rock Nine backstage at his gig in their city. On stage that night, he introduced “Blackbird” by saying he had hoped writing it “might just help them a little bit”.
We’re keen to hear from our readers. Whose version of ‘Blackbird’ do you think is best? Let us know in the comments below.
‘The Life of a Song: The fascinating stories behind 50 of the world’s best-loved songs’, edited by David Cheal and Jan Dalley, is published by Brewer’s.
Music credits: EMI Catalogue, Decca (UMO), Columbia, UMC (Universal Music Catalogue), Universal-Island Records Ltd., Trojan Budget, Rhino, Neil Diamond, Columbia
Picture credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images