Paul McCartney has excellent things to say about the new rendition of the Beatles' song 'Blackbird' on 'Cowboy Carter,' Beyoncé's new album.Beyoncé has received Paul McCartney's approval for her rendition of "Blackbird," describing it as "magnificent" and "fab.
In his Instagram post on Thursday, the former Beatle expressed hope that Beyoncé's performance of the song will help to calm racial tensions. "Anything my song and Beyoncé's fabulous version can do to ease racial tension would be great and makes me very proud," McCartney said in the post, which featured a photo of him with Queen Bey.
The song, named "Blackbiird" with two Is, is the second single from Beyonce's newest album, "Cowboy Carter," released on March 29.Tanner Adell, Tiera Kennedy, Reyna Roberts, and Brittney Spencer, all female black country musicians, provide rich harmonies and backup vocals to the tune.The song's title adds an extra "I" to commemorate "Cowboy Carter", the superstar's "Act II" album..
"I am overjoyed with @beyonce's rendition of my song 'Blackbird.' "I think she does a fantastic job of it, and it reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place," McCartney said on Instagram. "I believe Beyoncé did a fantastic rendition and would encourage everyone who hasn't heard it yet to listen. "You are going to love it!"
Paul Mccartney On The Original Beatles' Rendition Of 'blackbird'
The song's original version, a solo performance by McCartney, debuted on The Beatles' 1968 double album, "The White Album." Variety reports that Beyoncé's new version has McCartney's original acoustic guitar and foot tapping from the album's original master recording.
McCartney said the two communicated over Facetime.
"She thanked me for writing it and letting her do it," he went on to say. "I told her the pleasure was all mine and I thought she had done a killer version of the song."
The History Of Mccartney's 'blackbird'
McCartney has also said that he created the song after hearing about nine Black students who were bullied and intimidated by white classmates when enrolling in and desegregating Little Rock's Central High School in 1957.
"When I saw the footage on the television in the early 60s of the Black girls being turned away from school, I found it shocking and I can't believe that still in these days there are places where this kind of thing is happening right now," she said on Instagram. "Anything my song and Beyoncé's fabulous version can do to ease racial tension would be a great thing and makes me very proud."
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has previously said that the phrase "you were only waiting for this moment to arise" represented Black women's predicament during the Civil Rights Movement.
"The song was written only a few weeks after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.," McCartney writes in his 2021 book "The Lyrics." "That imagery of the broken wings and the sunken eyes and the general longing for freedom is very much of its moment."