What is The Beatles song Blackbird about?

Answer 1

There are various possible meanings to this song. One is it's about an actual bird who wants to be free and fly away. The other is metaphorical-- it could refer to the a person who has been captive (whether enslaved, imprisoned, in a bad relationship) and has been waiting for so long for the moment of freedom to arrive. Paul McCartney himself told ABC News in a 2001 interview that "I wrote it in the '60s, when the Civil Rights Movement was at its height. I liked to think of a blackbird as being a kind of symbol for a black woman."

another comment from a contributor:

Since The Beatles are from England, they call women birds. Blackbird was written when Paul McCartney was just sitting while he had free time on a tour. Then he heard a women screaming and a lot of police cars pulled up. The police had her handcuffed and were beating her. There was a giant crowd. Paul thought the black women committed a huge crime. Turns out all she did was sit in the whites section. Paul was shocked, as there was no segregation in England. He decided to write a song. Notice how all the adjectives are negative: dead,dark, sunken, broken. They describe the unfairness. The verbs show the actions of the black people: fly, singing, free, arise, waiting and see. After all those tragedies the African Americans didn't use violence. It was the lady's time to be free and arise from the dark black night. There is also the sound of a foot beating in the background. The footsteps represent the marching of all the African Americans, longing for freedom.

and another comment from another contributor:

McCartney in 2002:

"I was in Scotland playing on my guitar, and I remembered this whole idea of 'you were only waiting for this moment to arise' was about, you know, the black people's struggle in the southern states, and I was using the symbolism of a blackbird. It's not really about a blackbird whose wings are broken, you know, it's a bit more symbolic."

(Radio interview with KCRW's Chris Douridas, May 25, 2002)

McCartney in Rolling Stone Magazine:

"I had in mind a black woman, rather than a bird. Those were the days of the civil rights movement, which all of us cared passionately about, so this was really a song from me to a black woman, experiencing these problems in the States: 'Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith, there is hope.' As is often the case with my things, a veiling took place, so, rather than say, 'Black woman living in Little Rock,' and be very specific, she became a bird, (she) became symbolic."

Answer 2

There are two perspectives to the song "Blackbird".

1. Paul McCartney woke one morning in Rishikesh to hear a blackbird singing, put together the now familiar guitar pickings and a few simplistic lyrics.

2. Paul McCartney woke one morning and heard news reports of racial tensions in the USA and devised the metaphor of oppressed black people flexing their muscles.

The problem with option 2 is that the song had already been written by the time of Martin Luther King's assassination, which is what sparked the tensions.

Answer 3

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

Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly, into the light of the dark blue 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.

Answer 4

The song Blackbird was recorded by the Beatles on June 11, 1968. It was officially released on November 22, 1968. The band recorded another version in 2009 after Jackson's death.