The lyrics have invited similarly varied interpretations – as a nature song, a message in support of the Black Power movement, or a love song.
Angie recalled that McCartney visited the house and sat at Edith's bedside, where Edith told him that she would listen to a bird singing at night. She said that McCartney wrote it for her elderly mother, Edith Stopforth, who was staying at Jim McCartney's house while recovering from a long illness. In 2018, McCartney further elaborated on the song's meaning, explaining that "blackbird" should be interpreted as "black girl", in the context of the civil rights troubles in the 1960s US South.Ī third scenario came from the recollection of his stepmother, Angie McCartney. It's not really about a blackbird whose wings are broken, you know, it's a bit more symbolic. I had been doing some in the last year or so because I've got a poetry book out called Blackbird Singing, and when I would read "Blackbird", I would always try and think of some explanation to tell the people … So, I was doing explanations, and I actually just remembered why I'd written "Blackbird", you know, that I'd been, 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. In May 2002, following a show in Dallas, Texas, McCartney discussed the song with KCRW DJ Chris Douridas, saying: In another, he recalls writing it in Scotland as a response to racial tensions escalating in the United States during the spring of 1968. In one of these scenarios, he has said he was inspired by hearing the call of a blackbird one morning when the Beatles were studying Transcendental Meditation in Rishikesh, India. Since composing "Blackbird" in 1968, McCartney has given various statements regarding both his inspiration for the song and its meaning.
The fingerpicking technique that McCartney uses in the song was taught to him by folk singer Donovan.
The first night his future wife Linda Eastman stayed at his home, McCartney played "Blackbird" for the fans camped outside his house. McCartney adapted a segment of the Bourrée (reharmonised into the original's relative major key of G) as the opening of "Blackbird", and carried the musical idea throughout the song. The Bourrée is distinguished by melody and bass notes played simultaneously on the upper and lower strings. As teenagers, he and George Harrison tried to learn Bourrée as a "show off" piece. McCartney explained on Chaos and Creation at Abbey Road, aired in 2005, that the guitar accompaniment for "Blackbird" was inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach's Bourrée in E minor, a well-known lute piece, often played on the classical guitar. Problems playing this file? See media help. Performed on a lautenwerck by Martha Goldstein
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