♫ Blackbird ♫

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Paul McCartney wrote this about the civil rights struggle for African-Americans after reading about race riots in the US. He penned it in his kitchen in Scotland not long after Little Rock Nine, when the federal courts forced the racial desegregation of the Arkansas capital’s school system.Little Rock Nine“I was sitting around with my acoustic guitar and I’d heard about the civil rights troubles that were happening in the ’60s in Alabama, Mississippi, Little Rock in particular,” he told GQ. “I just thought it would be really good if I could write something that if it ever reached any of the people going through those problems, it might give them a little bit of hope. So, I wrote ‘Blackbird.'”

McCartney-meets-little-rock-nine-2

McCartney with two of the Little Rock Nine

Blackbird
Paul McCartney

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

Black-bird fly
Black-bird fly, into the light of a dark black night

Black-bird fly
Black-bird fly, into the light of a 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

Songwriters: John Lennon / Paul McCartney
Blackbird lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

 

16 thoughts on “♫ Blackbird ♫”

  1. Pingback: ♫ Broken Wings ♫ (Redux) | Filosofa's Word

  2. Pingback: ♫ Broken Wings ♫ | Filosofa's Word

  3. Jill, in an interview, McCartney said it was a tribute to MLK and the Civil Rights movement. MLK was seen very favorably around the world well before many White Americans embraced him. He was a true hero. Keith

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    • Yes, MLK brought people together … he had a gift and knew how to use it for the betterment of mankind. Such a 180 degree difference from the ‘man’ in the Oval who only knows how to divide. I wish we had a MLK here today.

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  4. Total aside here! I mentioned the 2010 book “Hester – The missing Years of the Scarlet Letter” last night and you asked about it. Yet again, you have prompted my propensity for loquacity! There is a very interesting back story about this book.The author, Paula Reed, was an English teacher at Columbine High School. The inside cover of the book contains these words : “After surviving the tragic shooting there, she, not unlike many students and teachers who were there that day, decided the time to pursue all of one’s true passions is now. Paula’s passions are teaching and writing. Long a favorite teaching text in her English courses, “The Scarlet Letter” inspired Paula to combine her two passions by reimagining this beloved classic in ‘Hester’.” I have read and reread “The Scarlet Letter” over the years from high school to the present and loved it, even watched the 1995 movie starring Demi Moore. This book fills the lost years between when Hester and Pearl depart from New England and when Hester returns alone in the original seamlessly and in the style of Hawthorne. I loved this book! Henceforth, I shall always read the two together. A bit more than you expected? I could continue on, about how I came across the book at the monthly book swap in a 300 yr. old Quaker Meeting House…oh, wait a New York Minute here, I just did!

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    • P.S. This was supposed to under my comment on the song, sigh! P.P.S. A glass of wine will be raised in your honor this evening…a great wine, life is too short to drink bad wine!

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  5. I always thought that Blackbird referenced black girls, because the Brits were known to refer to a pretty girl as a “bird”. It wasn’t until Sir Paul interviewed with Diane Sawyer, early 2000’s I think, that I heard that he had liked to think of a blackbird as being a kind of symbol for a black woman. I haven’t heard this song in all these long years, always thought it was empowering to women. Thank-you!

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    • Ah, Jack … at our age, we cannot be expected to remember everything! In fact, I often walk into the kitchen … about 20 steps … and by the time I get there, I’ve forgotten what I went for! So … now you remember it … that’s the important thing! And yes, I was teasing, for you are younger than I! Hugs!!! ❤

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