Former Beatles man and original writer of the song “Blackbird”, Paul McCartney, is delighted with Beyonce’s version of the song, written “Blackbiird” that appears on a recent album Cowboy Carter.
Taking to social media to share his praise for it, he wrote: “I think she does a magnificent version of it and it reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place.”
The song was originally written by McCartney amid the 1960s civil rights movement in the United States.
It was written and inspired by the first black girls famously called the Little Rock Nine, who were the first to attend all-white schools after desegregation in Arkansas.
“When I saw the footage on the television in the early 60s of the black (sic) 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,” McCartney continued.
“Anything my song and Beyoncé’s fabulous version can do to ease racial tension would be a great thing and makes me very proud,” he added.
This comes as the new album continues to break records for Beyonce, decades into her career.
Ahead of the release, Beyonce had cited the mistreatment she got at the Country Awards popularly known as the CMAs as the inspiration to create it.
“This album has been over five years in the making. It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed…and it was very clear that I wasn’t,” she said at the time.
She further added that she used the experience to learn more about the history of Country music as it pertains to black culture.
“But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive.”
For the song “Blackbiird” she features up-and-coming black country artists Tiera Kennedy, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer and Reyna Roberts.
McCartney also said that he had spoken to Beyoncé on FaceTime and she thanked him for writing “Blackbird” and for letting her cover it.
“I told her the pleasure was all mine,” he wrote. “I thought she had done a killer version of the song.”
