DAILY DOSE OF ART

As prescribed by Paulina Constancia

Slavery: Then & Now (5) – BLACK BIRD

August 23 is International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and of its Abolition. This week we look into “SLAVERY: Then & Now”. Today I bring you a Beatles’ classic- BLACK BIRD.We’ll earn how this song is rich in symbolism relating to slavery and the quest for freedom.
BLACK BIRD 
artwork inspired by the song
painted quilt by yours truly-
 Paulina Constancia


Blackbird
The Beatles
Lyrics Source

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 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
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.

Writer/s: LENNON, JOHN / MCCARTNEY, PAUL
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

About the Song

Info Source
Paul McCartney wrote this about the civil rights struggle for blacks after reading about race riots in the US. He penned it in his kitchen in Scotland not long after Little Rock, when the federal courts forced the racial desegregation of the Arkansas capital’s school system. McCartney told Mojo magazine October 2008: “We were totally immersed in the whole saga which was unfolding. So I got the idea of using a blackbird as a symbol for a black person. It wasn’t necessarily a black ‘bird’, but it works that way, as much as then you called girls ‘birds’; the Everlys had had Bird Dog, so the word ‘bird’ was around. ‘Take these broken wings’ was very much in my mind, but it wasn’t exactly an ornithological ditty; it was purposely symbolic.”

Listen to the song
Only 3 things were recorded: Paul’s voice, his acoustic guitar, and a tapping. According to the video The Complete Beatles, the tap was not a foot or metronome – the Master was intentionally scratched. If you listen closely you will notice that it sounds like a scratch on a record. Birds were dubbed in later.
This was one of 5 Beatles songs McCartney performed on his Wings Over America tour in 1976. Blackbird Singing is also the title of a book of poems McCartney wrote.
Listen to Paul McCartney 
singing BLACK BIRD live!
Listen to Sarah McLachlan 
do her interpretation of Black Bird
McCartney said this song was made for Sarah McLachlan 
after he heard the version she made 
for the movie I Am Sam….
-Tiffany, Nonya, OH (Read more on Songfacts)

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This entry was posted on August 23, 2012 by in Uncategorized.

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