From Wikipedia:"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.
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
Black bird 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
Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.
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,oh
You were only waiting for this moment to arise, oh
You were only waiting for this moment to ariseMcCartney 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 Bourrée in E minor, a well known classical guitar piece. As kids, he and George Harrison tried to learn Bourrée as a "show off" piece. Bourrée is distinguished by melody and bass notes played simultaneously on the upper and lower strings. McCartney adapted a segment of Bourrée as the opening of "Blackbird," and carried the musical idea throughout the song.
Paul McCartney wrote the song in his kitchen in Scotland while watching racial tension erupt in America. The song was recorded just two months after Martin Luther King was killed.
The first night Linda Eastman, who would later become his wife, slept over, McCartney played it to the fans camped outside his house.
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. McCartney played a Martin D 28 acoustic guitar. The track includes recordings of a blackbird singing in the background.
The song uses only a guitar, vocals, a steady tapping, and birdsong-overdub. It is disputed whether the birdsong-overdub is an actual Blackbird. The tapping rhythm is revealed on Beatles Anthology to be Paul's feet tapping on the wooden floor of the studio.
Though according to The Compleat Beatles, the rhythm is produced by an intentional scratch made on the Master, there exists a video that shows McCartney tapping his feet on the floor, while singing an early version of the song, producing the percussion that can be heard in the recorded version.
Read MoreCovers and cultural references:
Many bands and performers have made cover versions, including Donovan, Phish, the Grateful Dead, Billy Preston, Kenny Rankin, Keller Williams, Carly Simon, Bonnie Pink, the Guess Who, Arturo Sandoval, Jesse McCartney, Dionne Farris, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Doves, Brad Mehldau, Harpers Bizarre, Bobby McFerrin, Jaco Pastorius, Dave Grohl, John Denver, Drake Bell, 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.
.Quidam (polish band) performed it in the 2006 live album "Half unplugged".
.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.
.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.
.Eddie Vedder also performed the song several times on his 2008 solo tour.
.In the novel The Perks Of Being A Wallflower this song is mentioned as a favourite of the narrator, Charlie.
.The Racoon song "Laugh about it" was inspired by Blackbird.A list of coverversions from secondhandsongs but it's incomplete Blackbird by The Beatles (November 22, 1968)
Blackbird by Ramsey Lewis (1968)
Blackbird by Chet Atkins (1969)
Blackbird by Harpers Bizarre (1969)
Blackbird by José Feliciano (1970)
Blackbird by Dion (1970)
Blackbird by Punch (1971)
Blackbird by Billy Preston (1972)
Blackbird by Alan Ross (1974)
Blackbird by Tom Scott (1975)
Blackbird by Kenny Rankin (1975)
Blackbird by Release Music Orchestra (1976)
Blackbird by Mary McCaslin (1977)
Blackbird by Dev Singh & Gaynor Jenkins (1977)
Blackbird by Mose Jones (1978)
Blackbird by Dave Valentin (1979)
Blackbird by Sylvester (1979)
Blackbird by Sarah Vaughan (1981)
Blackbird by Jaco Pastorius (1981)
Blackbird by Crosby, Stills & Nash (1983)
Blackbird by Bobby McFerrin (1984)
Blackbird by The King's Singers (1988)
Blackbird by L.A. Workshop (1988)
Blackbird by Terri Lyne Carrington (1989)
Blackbird by Beachfront Property (1990)
Blackbird by Night Ark (October 17, 1990)
Blackbird by Paul McCartney (May 20, 1991)
Blackbird by Micky Dolenz (October 22, 1991)
Blackbird by Stefan Scaggiari (1992)
Blackbird by Richard Dworsky (December 1992)
Blackbird by Adrian Belew (1993)
Blackbird by Trio Rococo (1994)
Blackbird by Justin Hayward (1994)
Blackbird by Jon Simon (1995)
Blackbird by Mike Strickland (1995)
Blackbird by Jerry Vivino (1995)
Blackbird by Dionne Farris (1995)
Blackbird by Arthuro Sandoval (September 26, 1995)
Blackbird by Hampton String Quartet (October 17, 1995)
Blackbird by Jan Wallgren (November 21, 1995)
Blackbird by Julie Blue (1996)
Blackbird by Desmond Dekker (May 28, 1996)
Blackbird by Bernadette Peters (August 20, 1996)
Blackbird by Rick Wakeman (1997)
Blackbird by Brad Mehldau (January 28, 1997)
Blackbird by Michael Bellar & As-Is Ensemble (1998)
Blackbird by Gary Smart (March 31, 1998)
Blackbird by Canadian Brass (June 16, 1998)
Blackbird by Charles Lyonhart (September 1, 1998)
Blackbird by Paul Schwartz (October 13, 1998)
Blackbird by Joe Sherbanee (March 9, 1999)
Blackbird by Over the Rhine (June 15, 1999)
Blackbird by Mary LaRose and Ledhead (September 14, 1999)
Blackbird by Sylvain Luc & Bireli Lagrene (February 22, 2000)
Blackbird by Mr. Groove (February 28, 2000)
Blackbird by Five Floor Monica (April 1, 2000)
Blackbird by George Martin & Bonnie Pink (April 11, 2000)
Blackbird by Olga Konkova (April 17, 2001)
Blackbird by Beatlejazz (August 21, 2001)
Blackbird by René Marie (September 18, 2001)
Blackbird by Pastiche (October 2, 2001)
Blackbird by Jason Falkner (October 30, 2001)
Blackbird by The Dalton Gang (2002)
Blackbird by Sarah Brooks with Joe Beck (2002)
Blackbird by Ron McCurdy Quintet (2002)
Blackbird by Sarah McLachlan (January 8, 2002)
Blackbird by Marc Copland & Vic Juris (January 22, 2002)
Blackbird by Colin Linden (January 22, 2002)
Blackbird by Lynne Arriale Trio (February 5, 2002)
Blackbird by Doves (February 26, 2002)
Blackbird by Uri Caine (March 5, 2002)
Blackbird by Denzal Sinclaire (March 5, 2002)
Blackbird by Tim Garland, Geoff Keezer & Joe Locke (March 26, 2002)
Blackbird by Postage Era (August 20, 2002)
Blackbird by Peter Calo (October 15, 2002)
Blackbird by Phish (October 29, 2002)
Blackbird by Sixth Wave (November 5, 2002)
Blackbird by Pieces of 8 (February 25, 2003)
Blackbird by Petra Magoni & Ferruccio Spinetti (2004)
Blackbird by Emmerson Nogueira (December 2004)
Blackbird by Emmanuel Santarromana (2006)
Blackbird by Monday Off (2006)
Blackbird by Carly Simon (January 2, 2007)
Blackbird by Judy Collins (July 17, 2007)
Blackbird by Carly Smithson (March 19, 2008)
Partially covered by
Beatles Medley: Hey Jude/Eleanor Rigby/Blackbird/A Day In The Life by Bobby Darin (1987)
End (Medley: A) If I Fell B) Michelle C) Yesterday D) Blackbird E) Hey Jude F) The End) by Dr. Fink & the Mystery Band (1992)
Blackbird/I Will by The Swingle Singers (1995)
The original(s):You'll find 4 songs in the archive:
Beatles - Blackbird (White Album)(1968)
Beatles - Blackbird (Anthology Album)(1996)
Paul McCartney - Blackbird (Live) from the album wings over America (1976)
Paul McCartney - Blackbird (Unplugged (The Official Bootleg) (1991)http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?bkozn0ezjgh
The covers:Today it's Sunday the 4th of January.
The whole week I searched for Blackbird songs, I found 43 different versions of it.
Hope you enjoyed it as much as I do!
Arturo Sandoval - Blackbird.mp3
Beatles - Blackbird-Yesterday.mp3
Betsy Pecanins - Blackbird.mp3
Billy Preston - Blackbird.mp3
Bobby McFerrin - Blackbird.mp3
Carly Simon - Blackbird.mp3
Carly Smithson - Blackbird (Studio Version).mp3
Chris De Burgh - Blackbird.mp3
Chris Hinze - Blackbird.mp3
Colin Linden - Blackbird.mp3
Crosby, Stills & Nash - Blackbird.mp3
Dave Valentin - Blackbird.mp3
Desmond Dekker - Blackbird.mp3
Dionne Farris - Blackbird.wma
Ellioth Smith - Blackbird.mp3
Emmanuel Santarromana - Blackbird.mp3
Eros - Blackbird.mp3
Evan Rachal Wood - Blackbird.mp3
Foo Fighters - Blackbird (Dave Grohl Solo Acoustic).mp3
G Love & Special Sauce - Blackbird.mp3
Herman van Veen - Blackbird.mp3
Jamie Findlay - Blackbird.mp3
John - Blackbird (Beatles cover).mp3
Jose Feliciano - Blackbird.mp3
Judy Collins - Blackbird.mp3
Kenny Rankin - Blackbird.mp3
King's Singers - Blackbird (A capella).mp3
La Fragua -Blackbird.mp3
Maggie Macneal - Blackbird.mp3
Micky Dolenz - Blackbird.mp3
Monte Montgomery - Blackbird.mp3
Moses Jones - Blackbird.mp3
Rick Wakeman - Blackbird.mp3
Sarah Mclachlan - Blackbird.mp3
Sarah Vaughan - Blackbird.mp3
Sister Love - Blackbird.mp3
Sylvain Luc & Bireli Lagrene - Blackbird.mp3
Sylvester - Blackbird.mp3
The Waterboys - Sweet Thing.mp3
Third Day - Blackbird.mp3
Trijntje Oosterhuis - Blackbird.mp3
U2 - Beautiful Day (Live8).mp3
Wietse Wind - Blackbird.mp3http://rapidshare.com/files/179782781/Blackbird1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/179763777/Blackbird2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/179775943/Blackbird3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/179779048/Blackbird4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/179753952/Blackbird5.rar
