Covered #4: The Beatles – Blackbird
This series is not just about featuring hits and evergreens, that wouldn't be enough. It aims to present songs that have succeeded not only in their original version but also in many other renditions. A lot of covers are described as "better than the original" and in many cases, only a few people know the original. Sometimes there is even a dispute as to which version came first. The songs we are going to talk about and, more importantly, whose cover versions we are going to present, won't be based on the place or time of their creation, and definitely not on their original musical genre. Folk, jazz, blues, rock, pop or musical, we can find interesting songs anywhere.
One of the Beatles' most famous and most beautiful songs comes from their 1968 "White Album" and is in fact a solo work and recording by Paul McCartney. Everyone probably knows that "Blackbird" is not a simple song about a bird, but an allegorical tribute to African-American women fighting for human rights. Which, by the way, is a rather neglected topic when it comes to the Beatles, even though they did a lot of work in that field. For example, they refused to play in racially segregated venues in the South on their very first American tour in 1964, so the promoters were forced to remove the barriers and allow the audience to mix for the first time ever.
What's interesting about "Blackbird", according to McCartney, is that the basic figure of the acoustic guitar was inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach's "Bourée in E minor" for lute. That is, the same piece that Jethro Tull covered as a flute instrumental on their famous album Stand Up, a year after the Beatles, under the title "Bourée".
The newest and very successful cover version of "Blackbird" was recorded by the American singer Beyoncé. The song appeared under the slightly changed title "Blackbiird" on her album Cowboy Carter which was released earlier this year. She is accompanied by Paul McCartney, among others, and several young country music stars contributed vocals. The song has its logical place on the album as the record features the country's black roots as one of its main themes (a fact that has aroused quite a bit of controversy among dogmatists). And since Beyoncé is an excellent and sensitive singer, the cover version is no different.
"Blackbird" has been a rewarding addition to the repertoire of singers of all genres. Probably its oldest performer was jazz star Sarah Vaughan, whose centenary was commemorated this March. She sang "Blackbird" in an almost fusion version in 1981 on the album Songs of the Beatles.
Just three years later, the song opened Bobby McFerrin's live album The Voice, which made history as the first-ever unaccompanied jazz singer's album. Fortunately, there is also a video recording of "how he does it," and so we can still admire McFerrin's inventive approach to the material forty years later.
After all, "Blackbird" is perfect for soloists, including those we are otherwise used to hearing in the context of bands. This is the case, for example, of R&B singer Alicia Keys, who included the song in the 2011 program of her solo tour Piano & I: A One Night Only Event With Alicia Keys, in which, as the title suggests, only her voice and piano starred.
Eddie Vedder did something similar when he took a break from Pearl Jam in 2008 for a solo tour Water on the Road, captured on a DVD released three years later under the same title.
But "Blackbird" is also a great material for instrumentalists. As early as 1969, a year after the song's original release, its cover was recorded by the renowned guitarist Chet Atkins. He didn't have much commercial success with the album Solid Gold 69, which included covers of other hits by Joni Mitchell, Johnny Cash and the musical Hair, but he did achieve at least a Grammy nomination for Best Country Instrumental Performance.
However, "Blackbird" is also inspiring for musicians we tend to put in the jazz category, even though they often transcend its tight box in all directions. Such as bassist and producer Jaco Pastorius, who included the song on his second solo album, Word of Mouth, in 1981, featuring stars such as Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Michael Brecker and Jack De Johnette. And the chromatic harmonica in the "Blackbird" melody was played by none less than Toots Thielemans.
Pianist Brad Mehldau has also included "Blackbird" among his awesome acts, playing it in solo concerts, in trios, and in various crossover projects. With his well-known love of the Beatles, it's no wonder.
However, the same song was performed – again solo – by Mehldau's younger colleague, the Japanese pianist Hiromi Uehara. She recorded it for her album Spectrum in 2019.
We usually save the most bizarre stuff for the very end of this series. But this time we won't drag anyone through the mud – regardless of the fact that we would certainly find some junk among "Blackbird" cover versions, the author had neither the desire nor the energy to search for it. However, there are various arrangements and instrumental versions of the song, some of which are quite unusual. We will part with one of these. It has been recorded by the North Europeans Jesper Lundgaard and Mads Vinding for their collaborative album Bassments. So check out what "Blackbird" sounds like as an instrumental for two double basses.
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