Maybe it's time to refer to The Beatles as Bey-tles from now on! On Thursday (April 4), Sir Paul McCartney took to his Instagram page to share a lengthy message praising Beyoncé's cover of the Fab Four's “Blackbird,” which appears on her brand new Cowboy Carter album.
“I'm so happy with @beyonce's version of my song 'Blackbird,'” she captioned a carousel consisting of a photo of the two artists and the typical Cowboy Carter work of art. “I think he does 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 has done a great version and would urge anyone who hasn't heard it yet to check it out. You will love it!”
“Blackbird,” which was styled “Blackbiird” on Beyoncé's new LP, reprises the acoustic original with extra bass, orchestral flourishes and lush harmony (and lead vocals on the final verse) from a quartet of up-and-coming black women in country music, including by Tanner Adell, Reyna Roberts, Brittney Spencer and Tiera Kennedy.
McCartney talked about the civil rights he was referring to Paul McCartney: Many years from nowa biography of the Beatles written by Barry Miles in 1997. In the book, McCartney explains that “I had in mind a [Black] a woman, rather than a bird. It was the days of the civil rights movement, which we all cared about so passionately, so this was really a song from me [Black] woman, facing these problems in the United States: “Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep the faith. There is hope.'”
McCartney — whose original master recording is used on Beyoncé's version, according to Variety — also revealed that she had a chance to speak with the pop icon about her take on “Blackbird.”
“I spoke to her on FaceTime and she thanked me for writing it and letting her do it,” wrote McCartney, who attended Beyoncé's record-breaking Renaissance world tour last year. “I told her the enjoyment was all mine and I thought she did a killer version of the song. When I saw the video on TV in the early 60's of black girls being turned away from school I found it shocking and I can't believe that even these days there are places where this is happening right now. Anything my song and Beyoncé's great version can do to reduce racial tension would be great and makes me very proud.”
“Blackbird,” the second track on Bey's already record-breaking track Cowboy Carter, is one of the LP's two covers. Elsewhere on the sprawling 27-track album, Beyoncé tackles Dolly Parton's seminal “Jolene,” rewriting the song to better suit a “Creole banjee b–ch from Lousianne.”
In 2022, with Renaissance Lead single “Break My Soul” debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, Beyoncé became the first woman to Advertising sign history of ever recording at least 20 top 10 hits as a solo artist and 10 or more top 10 hits as a member of a group. The only two other artists to achieve such a feat? None other than Michael Jackson and McCartney.
The Beatles' original version of 'Blackbird' appeared on their 1968 self-titled LP — commonly referred to as The White album — which spent nine weeks atop the Billboard 200. Recently, Emmy-winning documentarian Ken Burns compared Cowboy Carter to The White albumciting both records' extensive exploration of different musical genres.
Check out Sir Paul's sweet Instagram message for Beyoncé's 'Blackbird' below.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/paul-mccartney-praises-beyonce-blackbird-1235649220/
