After opening up about the true meaning of the Beatles' standard "Blackbird" earlier this week in light of Beyoncé's unerring COWBOY CARTER rendition, Paul McCartney has issued a statement directly praising "BLACKBIIRD," and reflected on when Bey approached him about doing it.
"I am so happy with Beyoncé's version of my song 'Blackbird,'" McCartney wrote in the caption of an Instagram post, sharing an old photo of himself and the superstar at an event. "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. I think Beyoncé has done a fab version and would urge anyone who has not heard it yet to check it out. You are going to love it!"
Macca continued, "I spoke to her on FaceTime and she thanked me for writing it and letting her do it. I told her the pleasure was all mine and I thought she had done a killer version of the song. 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."
"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 in conclusion.
Beyoncé had gotten McCartney's permission to use the original Beatles backing track on "BLACKBIIRD," which features guest vocalists Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts — all Black women in country music. See the former Beatle's post below.
