Song: Blackbird Artist: The Beatles (Paul McCartney) (Originally published Nov.28, 2012)

On Sunday, Nov.25th, I finally saw a Beatle. Now, for me, this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience because I have been listening to the music of the Beatles since I was six years old, when the Beatles first arrived in North America, physically and musically. Paul McCartney returned to Vancouver BC for the first time in 48 years, and I and my family knew that this might be our last chance to see him here, since he’d only been here once before in 1964! Who knows if he’ll ever make it this way again?

His concert was fantastic; for a 70-year-old to be able to play 3 straight hours with only taking a moment to have a sip of water here and there was amazing enough, but he had twice the talent and charm of many of his younger counterparts and his performance was impeccable. And all done with no autotune, all live and completely real!  Try to do that for three hours you young bucks!

I’ll never forget that evening. Thanks Paul.

So I’ve decided to talk about one of his songs, one that I’ve been playing for years (incorrectly, by the way!) and one that he says he gets nervous playing because so many others play it and would know if he made a mistake!  That song is Blackbird.

One of the things I didn’t know about the song was the story behind it, which he told on Sunday night.  It was written during the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S., and McCartney’s intention in writing it was to encourage the black population in their quest for freedom, equality and tolerance.  It gave the lyrics a whole new meaning for me and I will be sure to tell that story every time I teach it in future. I always get requests from my students to learn Blackbird, which proves its continual appeal and popularity.  In fact, the other day I sat with a student as she showed me how she had taught herself most of it, not having any idea where it came from or who wrote it, but simply having heard a friend of hers playing it.  I was happy to tell her all about it, and how I’d just heard the writer perform the song himself 🙂

It is a simple song, comprised of three verses and a bridge which is repeated and often considered as a chorus.  I really don’t think it’s a chorus…somehow, musically it just feels more like it plays the part of a bridge in the song.  If I had a chance to ask Paul how he thinks of it, I would!

Now, onto the 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

BRIDGE:
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night 

[instrumental verse]

BRIDGE:
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly 
Into the light of the dark black night 

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 
You were only waiting for this moment to arise 
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Do you see what I mean?  Very, very simple lyrically, but when you couple it with its meaning and its purpose, it is very powerful.

The guitar in it is equally as sweet, sounding simple, but it’s not a beginner’s song by any means because it means travelling up the neck to the 10th and 12th frets and back down again.  In fact, it uses almost the entire fret range of an acoustic guitar.  The beauty of it, though, is that you could play it by itself and it would still be a great instrumental, and as soon as you start playing it, people know what it is.  I’ve always finger picked it, but Paul actually does a bass note pick with a little strum instead.  The arrangement consists only of the guitar, his vocal (occasionally doubled) and one simple beat in the background.  The true sign of a great song is when it needs nothing more than that!

Paul has written many, many wonderful songs over the years and performed a lot of them on Sunday night.  It was a beautiful experience for me to hear them live for the first time and to see this master songwriter in the flesh, just as charming and wonderful as ever.

Have a listen to the song below. It doesn’t get any better than that!
~ IJ