People can remember events in their lives or recall specific details of life associated with an event even decades later. The odd thing is, they don’t even know the relevance of what that detail is.
Just imagine all the beautiful sounding songs you’ve ever heard and then think of some of the lyrics to them. You can’t right of the top of your head probably. It’s one of those “If you hadn’t asked me I could’ve named a dozen of them” kind of things.
One song that is incredibly simple, sweet, and beautiful has said to be one of the top 10 most covered songs ever. Some cover it because it’s beautiful. Some, though, realize there is a message there.
Blackbird written by Paul McCartney was recorded in 1968 and appeared on the Beatles ‘White Album’. Do you know the message? It’s 1968, an Englishman looks at America and sees what is happening. He thinks of the people in America and thinks of a girl, a bird.
Blackbird is born. McCartney writes about Civil Rights. Normally I would explain a little more and then give you the song followed by the lyrics. But there is a reason Paul’s song has been covered so many times. He’s an author more than a song writer. I call poetry micro chapters of my autobiography. Paul writes micro chapters of history.
It’s 1968. America.
April 1968 Martin Luther King Jr has been assassinated.
June 1968 Paul McCartney enters the studio and records,
“Blackbird”
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.
You love the song from the moment the first chord is struck. The music and the voice harmonizes and you get lost before you even know what the song is about. You just know you love the song. Then one day you listen to the words and there it is. You but the year and the song together and you get it.
I’m a Southern man. Many may automatically think all Southern men have racial issues. I know of attitudes that are like that now. You can see it in the news today where something happens and they write it off as ‘well that’s the south for you’. Take a closer look at the news. It’s not just the South or mostly the South.
I’m a Southern man and I love all people. I love this song. I love the message. As a historian I am amazed at what it says. Paul McCartney, historian, author, singer, songwriter.
For those who say the Beatles weren’t something special . . . keep your Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber.
Sometimes you want to say it but you can’t. You just don’t have the courage. You’re embarrassed. Then a song comes along that does it for you.
When a Song Comes Along
by: Ronovan
All my Friends here that wander by know I love music. I cannot listen to it often, if at all, but there are still those songs of long ago that I will see a lyric or it will slip into my mind as I write a word and it comes back to me. There are even songs from more recent years that have found their way to me even without my having been on the look out for them.
You may wonder how can I know they are from recent years when I have the whole memory thing going for me. I can look up a song lyric and find when the song was recorded. I do happen to play around with computers every now and then. Just saying. (I say that a lot, don’t I?)
Sometimes that melody or groove just can’t be denied. Maybe that’s the only thing you enjoy and the lyrics don’t matter. Sometimes you really do want to ignore the words or it ruins the whole experience. (JS) See what I did there? I got that acronym thing going now. Oh yeah.
But then we have those songs that . . . just can’t be denied. Yes, the melody catches us but then the lyrics keep us and carry us away to another place. And the good ones just say what you always wanted to say.
That brings me to the song.
You want to say those words to the woman in your life and the woman in your life wants you to say them. This hit record wasn’t just from luck. The man picked a song that was universal and every man and woman could listen to and get lost for several minutes. Your heart softened your eyes got a little dreamy and the corners of your lips turned up slightly as the song took you away and you just fell in love all over again. Just be sure when you hear the song come on, you pull over and stop before your eyes close as you just slip back into that dreamy land of love of . . . yes . . . you can sing it . . . your eyes, your hair, your smile . . . you’re amazing.
I want to be a writer, paperback, hardback, e-back, whatever, I want to write.
There are songs that you love before you know why or before they have a meaning or significance. You become a fan of an act and naturally enjoy what they do. Over the course of time each song slowly matures as you do and the meaning is found.
I have a special place for songs recorded before I was born. Perhaps it was a more innocent time, or the 1960s were just filled with such great discoveries and experiments that it’s difficult to match. Only the 1980s might have as much experimentation and even producing some great music out of that whirlwind of synthesizers and big hair bands.
From the year 1966 comes Paperback Writer by the Beatles. Some of the younger generations say the Beatles are overrated. I say they have no clue as to what the Beatles were and are. Their style changed so incredibly in just the matter of a few years. This song was one of those changes.
Not about love or holding a hand, Paul McCartney writes about a man who writes a letter to a publisher wanting to sell his book, a thousand page novel. He’s begging to become a Paperback Writer.
All these years and decades later after first loving the song, it has found its true meaning in my life. For those of you who are my writing Friends you should be able to take this one to heart. Enjoy the video. I have included the lyrics below.
Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book?
It took me years to write, will you take a look?
It’s based on a novel by a man named Lear
And I need a job, so I want to be a paperback writer
Paperback writer
It’s the dirty story of a dirty man
And his clinging wife doesn’t understand
His son is working for the Daily Mail
It’s a steady job but he wants to be a paperback writer
Paperback writer
Paperback writer
It’s a thousand pages, give or take a few
I’ll be writing more in a week or two
I can make it longer if you like the style
I can change it round and I want to be a paperback writer
Paperback writer
If you really like it you can have the rights
It could make a million for you overnight
If you must return it, you can send it here
But I need a break and I want to be a paperback writer
Paperback writer
There is an odd attachment one gets to a song. The title alone draws me in. The lone voice. The simple almost haunting music. Finally the lyrics themselves.
Written by Paul McCartney in 1967 and recorded by the Beatles the same year, this song ended up on their Magical Mystery Tour album. The film of which was a McCartney endeavor from beginning to end. The Beatles never performed this song together live before an audience.
I am alone in my thoughts. I see things others do not. I am aware that some do not like my opinions. But I know the world keeps turning and I keep burning inside. Melancholy? Perhaps just admission of reality. Is admission of truth melancholy? Or is it acceptance so one can continue forward?
Day after day, alone on the hill
The man with the foolish grin is keeping perfectly still
But nobody wants to know him
They can see that he’s just a fool
And he never gives an answer
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning around
Well on the way, head in a cloud
The man of a thousand voices talking perfectly loud
But nobody ever hears him
Or the sound he appears to make
And he never seems to notice
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning around
And nobody seems to like him
They can tell what he wants to do
And he never shows his feelings
But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning around
He never listens to them
He knows that they’re the fools
They don’t like him
The fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning around
A Birth Song? I created this as far as I know. But it’s the song that was #1 the day you were born. What’s your Birth Song? Maybe it’s not a #1 on the Billboard charts in the US but somewhere else.
For me?
It’s 1970 and the announcement of the break up of The Beatles has already been made. That doesn’t stop the hits from coming.
The week of June 20th 1970 comes along and this is the #1 song “Long and Winding Road”. Some may wonder about a Birth Song. Is there a coincidence in happenings? I don’t believe so. Looking at my life, my notebook, and me today, my Birth Song was aptly named.
ronovanwrites 