Paul McCartney sings the praises of Beyoncé’s new cover of “Blackbird.”
The Beatles legend posted a photo of himself and Beyoncé on April 4 on Instagram. In his caption, he said the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer’s “magnificent” rendition of “Blackbird” on her new album “Carter Cowboy” “reinforces” the song’s “civil rights message.”
“I’m so happy with @beyonce’s version of my song ‘Blackbird’. I think she makes a beautiful version of it and it reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place,” wrote McCartney.
McCartney added that he would “urge” music lovers to listen to Beyoncé’s “fabulous version” of his song.
The musician also revealed that he and the former Destiny’s Child member communicated about his version of the song.
“I talked to her on FaceTime and she thanked me for writing it and letting her do it,” McCartney wrote. “I told her it was all my pleasure and I thought she did a great version of the song.”
McCartney later explained that he was inspired to write “Blackbird”, which originally appeared on the Beatles’ 1968 double album “The Beatles” (also known as “The White Album”) after watching television images of black students harassed for attending newly integrated schools. schools following the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. The Board of Education which banned segregation in public schools.
“When I saw images on television in the early 1960s of black girls being turned away from school, I found it shocking and I can’t believe that there are still places today where This stuff is happening now,” McCartney wrote.
He added: “Anything my song and Beyoncé’s fabulous version can do to ease racial tensions would be a good thing and would make me very proud.”
McCartney has previously spoken about the inspiration behind “Blackbird,” noting that he was looking at footage of the Little Rock Nine, the nickname for the nine teenagers who became the first black students to enter the old Central High School in Little Rock, entirely white. Arkansas, in September 1957, which inspired him to write the song.
The Little Rock Nine needed to be escorted by military personnel to protect them from protesters who had surrounded the high school.
“I was sitting with my acoustic guitar and hearing about the civil rights unrest that was happening in the ’60s in Alabama, in Mississippi, in Little Rock in particular,” McCartney told GQ in 2018.
Beyoncé won the Innovator Award at the 2024 iHeartRadio Awards on April 1. The 42-year-old singer received the honor from Stevie Wonder, whom she thanked during her moving speech for his contribution to the music industry and to his new album “Cowboy Carter”. .”
“I just thought it would be really nice if I could write something that, if it ever reached people dealing with these issues, it might give them some hope. So I wrote ‘Blackbird,'” he continued.
McCartney added that the song is specifically about young black women in the civil rights movement.
“In England, a bird is a girl, so I was thinking about a black girl going through this. Now is the time to stand up, to break free, to take those broken wings,” he explained.
In the song, McCartney tells the story of a blackbird “singing in the dead of night” who can “take these broken wings and learn to fly.”
“All your life you’ve been waiting for this moment to show up,” the musician later sings, adding: “All your life you’ve been waiting for this moment to be free.”
Melba Pattillo Beals, 82, a member of the Little Rock Nine, told the Washington Post that hearing Beyoncé’s rendition of “Blackbird” filled her with pride for the role she played in desegregating public schools .
“This song awakens so many things,” Beals said.
Beals revealed that she didn’t learn until 2016 that the story of the Little Rock Nine had inspired “Blackbird.”
“Paul McCartney said when he wrote this song, ‘I hear you. I may not be able to save you, but I hear you singing in the dark,'” Beals said.
Beyoncé’s rendition of “Blackbird” uses McCartney’s original recordings that feature her guitar playing and the sound of her kicks, according to Variety.
The “Bodyguard” singer also added soaring harmonies courtesy of four Black country music singers — Reyna Roberts, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer and Tiera Kennedy — as well as new orchestra and bass parts.
This article first appeared on TODAY.com. Read more from TODAY here:
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