Paul McCartney has weighed in on Beyoncé's cover of “Blackbird,” which nears the beginning of her latest album, “Cowboy Carter.”
“I'm so happy with Beyoncé's version of my song 'Blackbird,'” McCartney wrote on Twitter. “I think she did a great version of it and reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place. I think Beyoncé did a great version and I urge anyone who hasn't heard it yet to check it out. You'll love it!”
He goes on to explain that they connected after he gave her his blessing to record a performance of the song.
He continued: “I spoke to her on FaceTime and she thanked me for writing it and letting her do it.” “I told her the fun was all mine and I thought she did a killer version of the song. When I saw the footage on TV in the early 1960s of black girls being kept out of school, I found it shocking and I can't believe there are still places where this kind of thing happens.” “These days. Anything my song and Beyoncé's amazing version could do to ease racial tension would be amazing and make me very proud.”
McCartney did not mention in her post that she used the master recording of the original guitar and foot-tapping backing part that he recorded for the Beatles' White Album in 1968 As a backing track for its new version, as reported earlier this week in Variety. He also received a co-producing credit on her new recording.
Beyoncé's lyrically and musically honest version of the 1968 tune adds additional harmonies and/or lead vocals from four Black singers — Renna Roberts, Tanner Adele, Brittney Spencer, and Tera Kennedy — along with some new bass and orchestration, over McCartney's original solo vocal track. .
This isn't the only cover for Beyoncé's new album. “Cowboy Carter” also includes a new version of Dolly Parton's song “Jolene” (with an updated rewrite of the country star's lyrics and song structure).
Some online and in the industry have criticized “Cowboy Carter,” including the singer Lily Allen, who said she was recording a country album of her own. On her BBC Sounds podcast “Miss Me?”, she described Beyoncé's crossover venture as “completely calculated”. She added, “I'm here because I love country music, I always have, and I'm not saying Beyoncé doesn't love it, but I tell stories in my music, and that's what country music is.”
TikTok user Sam Doll went viral this week for saying that “Cowboy Carter” was a breakup album and that the covers, including “Jolene,” were “boring” and “bad.” The video was deleted after a wave of backlash.
“Blackbird” was first heard on The Beatles' self-titled album, also known as The White Album. Penned by McCartney (credited as Lennon-McCartney), the song's inspirations have long been attributed to the sounds of blackbirds in Rishikesh, India (where the Beatles stayed and taught Transcendental Meditation), sick family members or the civil rights movement in America in the '60s.
The singer-songwriter cemented the origins of the song's inspiration within him Interview with GQ.
“I was sitting there with my acoustic guitar, and I heard about the civil rights problems that were happening in the 1960s in Alabama, Mississippi, and Little Rock in particular,” McCartney said.
“So I had that on my mind, and I just thought, it would be really good to write something that if it reaches any of the people who are struggling with those problems, it might give them a little bit of hope.” So I wrote “Blackbeard.” In England, a bird is a girl, so I was thinking of a black girl going through this; Now is the time for you to rise up. Free yourself; Take these broken wings.”
“One of the nice things about music is that you know that a lot of people listening to you will take what you say in the song seriously. I'm very proud of the fact that the Beatles' output is always very positive.
Earlier this week, Melba Pattillo Bills He told the Washington Post Hearing Beyoncé's cover took her back to her youth. Bales was a member of the Little Rock Nine, a group of black students in Arkansas who integrated the all-white Central High School.
She said she loved the original song as soon as she heard it in 1968, decades before she knew she and her classmates were an inspiration to her.
“Paul McCartney said by writing that song: ‘I hear you.’ She told the newspaper: ‘I may not be able to save you, but I hear you singing in your darkness.’”
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