“ Blackbird singing in the dead of night,” (Paul McCartney, Blackbird”. The first line of the song was the beginning of a huge controversy called the Civil Rights Movement. McCartney was inspired to write this song while he was in Scotland; reaction caused by the desegregation in the United States in the Spring of 1968. During an interview, McCartney had stated his love for poetry reading, and was inspired by a book called “Blackbird Singing” Unlike his other band-mates at the time, McCartney was not straight forward with his lyrics. The song talks about blackbirds, but is it really about birds, or is there something more to it? When first listening to the song, it is a bit hard to decipher the meaning of it. McCartney uses his ability of songwriting and storytelling, or pathos, to inform anyone who is willing to listen, about the civil rights movement. “Take these broken wings,” (Blackbird), is actually like a metaphor explaining African Americans forced to be silent. McCartney had explained that the “Bird” stand for a black girl. The last line from the first verse is “You were only waiting for this moment to arise” is pretty straight forward. The African …show more content…
African Americans were forced to glace down as they were not “worthy” enough to make eye contact with anybody. So this little part of the song encouraged all to raise their glance and learn how to see the world and make eye contact with whomever they wanted too. The rest of the song repeats itself until you get to the bridge of the song. Where It repeats the same lyric three times,”You were only waiting for this moment to arise”(Blackbird) McCartney wanted to address the controversy of the desegregation in the country. Even though the Civil Rights Movement was actually moving, there was still plenty of controversy and abuse going around, for the African