Beyoncé‘s latest album ‘Cowboy Carter‘ is a whole new niche for the superstar and she has still managed to ace it. Apart from the brilliant music, the singer has further enhanced the album by adding a variety of flavors in contemporary contexts to her songs. One of the most pleasant surprises of this album is an unexpected cover of The Beatles’ iconic 1968 track, ‘Blackbird’.
While the Queen Bey typically sticks to original compositions, her latest project boasts two covers — with Dolly Parton’s 1974 hit ‘Jolene‘ along with the Beatles song. However, the rendition of ‘Blackbird‘ steals the show because of the collaboration with a quartet of Black country singers including Brittney Spencer, Reyna Roberts, Tanner Adell, and Tiera Kennedy.
Originally written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, ‘Blackbird‘ holds a profound meaning that Beyoncé has gracefully tried to bring forth through her collaboration with the Black country singers. While discussing the song, McCartney has often cited the inspiration drawn from the American civil rights movement.
He particularly mentioned the struggles faced by the Little Rock Nine—a group of courageous Black teenagers who faced discrimination in 1957 after getting enrolled in a formerly all-white high school following the ruling of Brown vs. Board of Education.
Speaking about the adversities that the group faced in the 1960s, McCartney had said that the song was aimed to offer solace and encouragement to those enduring hardships through his music. “I was sitting around with my acoustic guitar and I’d heard about the civil rights troubles that were happening in the ’60s in Alabama, Mississippi, Little Rock in particular,” McCartney said during an interview with GQ in 2018.
“I just thought it would be really good if I could write something that if it ever reached any of the people going through those problems, it might give them a little bit of hope. So, I wrote ‘Blackbird,’” he added. He also clarified that “in England, ‘bird’ is a ‘girl‘” and therefore, he has used “Blackbird” as a metaphor for “Black girl.”
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Paul McCartney Emphasizes The Significance Of Civil Rights in ‘Blackbird’, Beyoncé Amplifies It
During a 2016 performance in North Little Rock in Arkansas, McCartney also paid homage to the role that the city played in the civil rights movement. After his performance, McCartney also met two members of the Little Rock Nine, Thelma Mothershed Wair, and Elizabeth Eckford. The song is therefore rooted in a lot of emotions with undertones of social struggle.
In a fan-posted video, McCartney can be heard telling the crowd, “Way back in the Sixties, there was a lot of trouble going on over civil rights, particularly in Little Rock. We would notice this on the news back in England, so it’s a really important place for us, because to me, this is where civil rights started.“
“We would see what was going on and sympathize with the people going through those troubles, and it made me want to write a song that, if it ever got back to the people going through those troubles, it might just help them a little bit, and that’s this next one,” he reiterated.
Beyoncé’s rendition of ‘Blackbird‘ not only pays homage to McCartney and Lennon’s timeless composition but also amplifies the voices of Black women within the country genre. In a music industry plagued by racism and exclusion, Beyoncé’s collaboration with Spencer, Roberts, Adell, and Kennedy came as a bold statement of solidarity and empowerment.
Though Beyoncé had declared ‘Cowboy Carter‘ to be a country album, it is a quintessential Beyoncé work of art. With her 32 Grammy wins under her belt, Beyoncé fearlessly ventured into folk-rock territory while also bringing forth a social cause that resonates deeply with her as a woman of color.
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