Blackbird Fly

On Sunday, Nov.25th, I finally saw a Beatle. Now, for me, this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience because I have been listening to the music of the Beatles since I was six years old, when the Beatles first arrived in North America, physically and musically. Paul McCartney returned to Vancouver BC for the first time in 48 years, and I and my family knew that this might be our last chance to see him here, since he'd only been here once before in 1964! Who knows if he'll ever make it this way again?

His concert was fantastic; for a 70-year-old to be able to play 3 straight hours with only taking a moment to have a sip of water here and there was amazing enough, but he had twice the talent and charm of many of his younger counterparts and his performance was impeccable. And all done with no autotune, all live and completely real!  Try to do that for three hours you young bucks!

I'll never forget that evening. Thanks Paul.

So I've decided to talk about one of his songs, one that I've been playing for years (incorrectly, by the way!) and one that he says he gets nervous playing because so many others play it and would know if he made a mistake!  That song is Blackbird.

One of the things I didn't know about the song was the story behind it, which he told on Sunday night.  It was written during the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S., and McCartney's intention in writing it was to encourage the black population in their quest for freedom, equality and tolerance.  It gave the lyrics a whole new meaning for me and I will be sure to tell that story every time I teach it in future. I always get requests from my students to learn Blackbird, which proves its continual appeal and popularity.  In fact, the other day I sat with a student as she showed me how she had taught herself most of it, not having any idea where it came from or who wrote it, but simply having heard a friend of hers playing it.  I was happy to tell her all about it, and how I'd just heard the writer perform the song himself :-)

It is a simple song, comprised of three verses and a bridge which is repeated and often considered as a chorus.  I really don't think it's a chorus...somehow, musically it just feels more like it plays the part of a bridge in the song.  If I had a chance to ask Paul how he thinks of it, I would!

Now, onto the lyrics:

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

BRIDGE:
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night 

[instrumental verse]

BRIDGE:
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

Do you see what I mean?  Very, very simple lyrically, but when you couple it with its meaning and its purpose, it is very powerful.

The guitar in it is equally as sweet, sounding simple, but it's not a beginner's song by any means because it means travelling up the neck to the 10th and 12th frets and back down again.  In fact, it uses almost the entire fret range of an acoustic guitar.  The beauty of it, though, is that you could play it by itself and it would still be a great instrumental, and as soon as you start playing it, people know what it is.  I've always finger picked it, but Paul actually does a bass note pick with a little strum instead.  The arrangement consists only of the guitar, his vocal (occasionally doubled) and one simple beat in the background.  The true sign of a great song is when it needs nothing more than that!

Paul has written many, many wonderful songs over the years and performed a lot of them on Sunday night.  It was a beautiful experience for me to hear them live for the first time and to see this master songwriter in the flesh, just as charming and wonderful as ever.

Here is the original recording of the song:


It doesn't get any better than that!
IJ

My Prairie's On Fire

Song: Set The Prairie on Fire Artist: Shawn Colvin

I discovered Shawn Colvin in the early 90's when I myself was out performing quite a bit.  I remember listening to her CD "Fat City" at first because a friend of mine thought we had similar voices, and I played it in my car as I was travelling around.  The fact that my friend thought our voices were alike was a compliment, of course, because Shawn is a far better vocalist than I'll ever be.  But beyond that, I fell in love with her songs long before "Sunny Came Home" was a hit.

I was in my 40's then, and you know what they say about ladies in the 40's.  Okay, if you don't, then look it up :-)  And when I first really listened to "Set The Prairie On Fire", it pretty much blew me away.  It was not the first or second listen, I'm sure, but as I heard it again and again, the lyrics found their way into my psyche and it became like a slow, seductive reveal.

Shawn is a great guitar player and I love her percussive flatpicking, and this song and its accompanying recording really demonstrates her playing ability.  The chords jump from what I think is an Am to G, back and forth in the verses, but the way she plays them keeps the repeated chord progression hard driving and never boring!  It's a slow song, with a wailing organ snaking its way all throughout, giving it a lonely, longing feeling which compliments the lyrics perfectly.  It feels like a prairie, it feels wide open and wanting.

Full full moon and

That same sad nature
I wanna cover every inch of you
Like ink on paper
Like the blind parade of souls
Consumed by religion
I can't wait 'til I get you 
In that defenceless position

Chorus:
When we set the prairie on fire
Oh we go down to the water
Naked and slow
You and me
And the heart of desire
We set the prairie on fire
How hard will the wind blow
How far will it go

When the feeling burns down
To one solitary colour
The velocity of longing
Melting into each other
It's a song our fingers play
All at once and together
You can bet we never learned it
But we've known it forever

Oh I dreamed that we were flying
Carried up from the ashes
Black silhouettes of velvet
Against the crimson of passion
We can almost hear the echoes
From the smouldering meadow
It's the rapture of the angels
And the rage of the devil

Chorus

Bridge:

In the cool dusk of horses
Through the rusted wires of sleep
With our arms around midnight
We're headed for release
We go riding in the wind
We go riding in the dark
Go riding, riding

Chorus

Read along with the lyrics as you listen to one of my favourite songs by Shawn Colvin:

 

Sigh...

Enough To Be On Your Way

I recently watched James Taylor perform at the DNC on television and it reminded me of one of my favourite songs of his. I've mentioned it before in my blog article My 10 All Time Favourite Songs but I think I'd like to go into more depth here about what I like so much about this song.

What I think I first fell in love with in this song was the melody and chord progression and the instrumentation...it's a sad song and a powerful one.  I didn't find out until later that James wrote it about his brother who passed away.

James changed the gender of the main character in the song (good idea to do that when you're writing about something or someone personal to you!), and I'm sure he changed some other details for the sake of the song.  When I found out it was really about his brother, it explained a lot to me.  First of all, songwriters are always told "write what you know".  I'm sure this applies to other types of writing, but the truth is that when a lyric is real, people feel it.  When you're really writing from the heart, it connects a lot better than something totally made up.  Now, I'm not advocating the idea of making your songwriting a diary of your life, but the more truthiness there is to it (I know, borrowed word and not in the dictionary!), the more your audience can relate.

Here are some of the lyrics:

The sun shines on this funeral
The same as on a birth
The way it shines on everything
That happens here on earth

It rolls across the western sky
And back into the sea
And spends the day’s last rays
Upon this fucked up family
So long old gal

The last time I saw Alice
She was leaving Santa Fe
With a bunch of round-eyed Buddhists
In a killer Chevrolet
Said they turned her out of Texas
Yeah she burned `em down back home
Now she`s wild with expectation
On the edge of the unknown

CHORUS:
Oh it`s enough to be on your way
It`s enough just to cover ground
It`s enough to be moving on
Home, build it behind your eyes
Carry it in your heart
Safe among your own

The chord progression in the verses is sentimental and soft, beginning with a Gmaj7 to an A/B (all relative to the capo on the 3rd fret).  Major 7th chords have always been some of my favourites, as was evidenced in the first few songs I wrote once I discovered them.  They are often used in jazz, but are not as difficult to play as some jazz chords.  The A/B chord is simply an A with the added B bass note, which gives a kind of anticipatory feel to the lines.  He plays those two chords once each in the first two lines, then starts the third line, which is twice as long, with the same two chords, progressing to F#m7, Bm7, Em9, A, D/A, A.  James likes to keep his bass lines moving which make his guitar progressions intricate and interesting.

My favourite progression, however, is in the chorus. It starts with Bm7 to Em7 to F#m7 and back to Bm7, but the second line takes a twist.  It picks up at the Em7 to F#m7 again, but then it moves to a Gmaj7...a major 7th chord, giving it that emotional punch just at the right time.  His melody moves eloquently over top, with the melodic and lyrical repetition of "it's enough" at the beginning of the first three lines.  It's enough to be on your way, it's enough just to cover ground, it's enough to be moving on.

When I first discovered James Taylor back in the 70's, what impressed me most were his chord progressions and melodies.  I didn't even think about or pay attention to his lyrics until later.  But I have to say I've never heard him swear in a song :-).  In the first verse of this song, he opens with the idea of how the sun shines on the funeral, as it shines on everything, implying a kind of indifference to the drama that's going on beneath it.  The last line hits home with "and spends the days' last rays upon this fucked up family."  I wonder if James ever wondered whether or not he should use that word!  On the other hand, there's an element of "real" to it, isn't there?  Don't we all feel that way about our families sometimes?  I think he was bringing his real life into that line.

 

I love this song...when I bought the album, it was one of those songs that grew on me the more I listened to it.  For me these days, that is rare.  It may be only because I am unable to find artists that appeal to me in order to discover those gems, and the places where I might hear them on a regular basis (like radio used to) don't exist.  But there is nothing more beautiful than a song that reveals itself more and more over time.

IJ