BLACKBIRD AND ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

Before we start down the road, McCartney Confirms 50th Anniversary Edition of The White Album. Exact details are scarce, but it looks like on November 22 this year we will definitely see something similar to the 50th Anniversary Edition box set Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band from last year – which was beautifully done.

A new mix remastered by Giles Martin and Sam Okell? Definitely some demos and studio outtakes, from what Sir Paul said. The mono version of the album included? And maybe some bonus materials, including a new stereo mix of the ‘Hey Jude’/’Revolution’ single (like they did with ‘Strawberry Fields’/’Penny Lane’ for Pepper)?

Okay, on we go with Blackbird.

The first time "Blackbird" spooled onto tape occurred May 29th, 1968, as one of many demo recordings made at George Harrison's 'Kinfauns' home in Esher, Surrey on an Ampex four-track machine.  This recording consists of Paul on acoustic guitar and vocals, both double-tracked, with a slight bit of bird sound effects courtesy of John in the background.  The structure of the song hadn't been settled on yet, and the ending was different than we know it now, but the lyrics were all in place at this point.

Paul was proud enough of “Blackbird” that it was the first McCartney composition he brought into EMI Studios for their new album. It was the fourth “White Album” song utilized but the first to mark completed, accomplished in one day, noted June 11th, 1968. Documents show the session commenced in EMI Studio Two at 6:30 pm.

Engineer Geoff Emerick, in his book “Here, There And Everywhere,” recounts the events of this day as well as the atmosphere present during “White Album” recording sessions: “The Beatles – who clearly didn't like being in one another's company anymore – were able to split up into small groups, working simultaneously in two or even all three of the studios in the Abbey Road complex. This soon became standard operating procedure for much of the 'White Album.' It was as if the four band members were so much in separate spaces personally, they wanted to make their record in separate spaces physically. On those evenings, I would normally work with Paul, because I had the best rapport with him. Another engineer would accompany John or George Harrison, with the taciturn (and rarely consulted) Ringo shuttling between studios as he was needed. That was the situation on the night that we worked on Paul's first contribution to the album, the poignant ballad 'Blackbird.'”

Emerick continues: “Neither Ringo nor George appeared that particular evening, and John wanted to start compiling sound effects for what would ultimately become 'Revolution 9,' so as soon as he learned that another studio was available, he decided to head off with (producer) Chris Thomas and Phil (McDonald) – accompanied, as usual, by Yoko. That left George Martin and me alone with Paul, which came as a blessed relief to me after all the stress of the preceding sessions; it always was a lot easier to deal with one Beatle.”

“Playing his left-handed acoustic guitar, Paul began running the song down, and I loved it immediately. Perfectionist that he was, he performed it over and over again, trying to get the complicated guitar part right all the way through. At one point a cameraman appeared to do a little filming for an Apple promo, and that interrupted the flow a little bit, but Paul just carried on, with his new lady friend sitting cross-legged at his feet. Paul had recently broken up with Jane Asher, and that might have been another reason why he was so subdued during the 'White Album' sessions...I suppose it's possible that Paul invited the girl along as an answer to John bringing in Yoko. But in contrast to Yoko, she didn't stay long, and George Martin had to leave early, too.”

The Apple promo film clearly shows Paul rehearsing “Blackbird” repeatedly, making mistakes along the way but clearly bringing it to perfection as he progressed. During the beginning of this filmed segment, on the floor off to Paul's right is the woman mentioned above. This was Francie Schwartz, Paul's current girlfriend, very soon to be replaced by Linda Eastman who would become his wife shortly later. In the film, George Martin walks over to converse with Paul during these rehearsals which appears to be an annoyance to Paul who continues his rehearsals of the song despite George's interruption. George Martin apparently left for the evening shortly after this moment in the film.

Emerick then relates: “After they'd gone, Paul remarked to me that he wanted the track to sound as if he was singing it outdoors. 'Fine,' I said, 'then let's do it outdoors.' He looked surprised, but there was a little spot outside of the echo chamber with just enough room for him to sit on a stool. I ran a long mic lead out there, and that's where we recorded 'Blackbird.' Most of the dubbed bird noises came from a sound effects record, but a few sparrows and finches singing outside the Abbey Road studio on a soft summer eve aided some live added tweets alongside Paul McCartney.”

Once official recording began in this unique location, Paul recorded 32 takes of the song with just himself on acoustic guitar and vocal along with his tapping feet which were specifically miked by Geoff Emerick at Paul's request.  Emerick, in the book "Recording The Beatles," explains how the tapping on the finished recording "has incorrectly revealed identified as a metronome in the past," but evidence of Paul's foot tapping shown during the playing of the song easily gets the credit seen in the Apple promo film shot on this day.  Only 11 of these takes were complete, take 4 acknowledged as one of these which eventually appeared on the compilation album “Anthology 3.” Upon examination of this take, we can see that Paul continued experimenting with the structure of the song as well as the performance nuances itself. One other complete take from this day, which has surfaced on bootleg recordings, show Paul ending the song just after the beginning of a verse with the lyric “Blackbird singing in the dead of night.....” and then asking Geoff Emerick “What do you think, what do you think?” Take 32 was the keeper, however, Paul then double-tracking his vocals during the refrains.

Mark Lewisohn, in his book “The Beatles Recording Sessions,” explains the one final overdub recorded on this day: “There was one other addition to the four-track tape: chirruping blackbirds, courtesy of 'Volume Seven: Birds Of Feather,' from the Abbey Road taped sound effects collection, the doors of the trusty green cabinet opened earlier and raided by John Lennon. 'I taped that on one of the first portable EMI tape-recorders, in my back garden in Ickenham, about 1965,' recalls Stuart Eltham. 'There are two recordings, one of the bird singing, the other making an alarm sound when I startled it.'”

Paul explains the desire to have this sound effect on the song: “The only point where we were thinking of putting anything on it was where it comes back in at the end – stops, and then comes back in. So, instead of putting any backing on it, we put a blackbird on it, so, there's a blackbird singing at the very end. Somebody said it's a thrush, but I think it's a blackbird...He did a very good job, I thought. He sings very well on that.”

But why not make a bigger production of the song? Paul explains: “It's simple in concept because we couldn't even think of anything else to put on it. Maybe on 'Pepper,' we would have worked on it until we could find some way to put violins on it or trumpets. But, I don't think it needs it. There's nothing to the song. This is just one of those pick-it-and-sing-it songs. It doesn't need anything else in the backing because, as a song, there's nothing to it.”

Before this session was over, six attempts of the mono mix were made in the control room of EMI Studio Two by Geoff Emerick, although none surfaced on the released record. By 12:15 am, the session ended.

A simple tape copy of 'remix mono 6' took place in the control room of EMI Studio Two on August 27th, 1968, which staff considered the finished mono mix of the song at this time. This tape copy, along with three other tape copies made on this day, were taken away by roadie Mal Evans, no doubt to let the Beatles hear its results.

Both the stereo and mono mixes pressed and heard by the public happened on October 13th, 1968, by George Martin and engineers Ken Scott and John Smith in the control room of EMI Studio Two. The stereo mix ensued first, with only one attempt needed for both stereo and mono. The mono mix, for some reason, was designated “remix 10” even though only six attempted mono mixes ran the course thus far. The only notable difference between the stereo and mono mixes exposes the placement of the bird sound effects, the mono mix leaving the blank space in the song completely quiet – quiet enough to pick up the sound of actual birds singing during Paul's outdoor performance.

Sometime in January of 1969, during the recording of Mary Hopkin's album “Postcard,” Paul and British folk singer Donovan, both of which performed on the album, were recorded singing and doodling on acoustic guitars while engineers were setting up equipment and adjusting the mix. Among the songs they ran through was “Blackbird,” Paul including a convincing blackbird imitation in between the vocal lines. He also stops the song at one point to explain to Donovan, “I sang the song to Diana Ross the other night – she took offense!...not really.”

Sometime in 1996, George Martin and Geoff Emerick returned to the master tapes of “Blackbird” to create a stereo mix of 'take 4' as mentioned above. This was included on the compilation album “Anthology 3” to give a clear perspective of how the recorded song had taken shape.

And then, sometime between 2004 and 2006, George Martin and his son Giles Martin worked with the master tape of “Blackbird” in order to combine a few instrumental segments with the master tape of “Yesterday,” this becoming the track “Blackbird” ”Yesterday” on the compilation album “Love.” The key of “Blackbird” dropped so as to match the key of “Yesterday,” seamlessly splicing them all together to appear as if it gelled by Paul all at the same time. A masterful job.

Since Paul performed “Blackbird” live quite regularly throughout the years, many recordings have been made and surfaced on live albums. Sometime in May or June of 1976, a recording of the song appeared on the album “Wings Over America,” while another version of the song recorded on June 14th, 1976 at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California got included on a bonus CD in the Deluxe Edition Box Set of “Wings Over America.” On January 25th, 1991, Paul and his band performed the song on the MTV “Unplugged” show, this version appearing on his album “Unplugged (The Official Bootleg).” Then, sometime between April 1st and May 18th, 2002, “Blackbird” was recorded live for release on both “Back In The U.S.” and “Back In The World.” A recording of the song took place at Paul's June 27th, 2007 concert at Amoeba Music in Hollywood, California, this version appearing on the British and Irish release entitled “Paul McCartney Live In Los Angeles.” Another recording made at Citi Field in New York City sometime between July 17th and 21st, 2009 made it onto the album “Good Evening New York City.”

Since "Blackbird" was a solo performance, Paul, supportive to experimenting with the structure of the song as he was recording it, ushered various configurations tried and abandoned before he settled on what we've come to view as the finished product.  What he ended up with was the following:  'verse/ verse/ refrain/ verse (instrumental)/ refrain/ bridge/ verse' (or aababca).  Interestingly, Paul continues to deviate from this structure to this day, each live performance varying from the next with subtle lyrical differences as well.

As far as the official studio recording is concerned, the arrangement flows the same throughout; Paul on acoustic guitar and single tracked vocals except during the refrains which have double-tracked vocals. His tapping feet are audible until the end of the second refrain just before the song retards and stops momentarily, but then reappears on the bridge and continues until the song is near completion. During the momentary break, the blackbird sound effects kick in (they come in a little earlier in the mono mix) and reappear periodically throughout the rest of the song; the last blackbird calls just after the song ends.

The more complex feature of the song points to the time signature changes that wind through the structure that Paul ended up using. For instance, a two-measure introduction begins the piece, which is actually an instrumental foregleam of the first two measures of each verse. The first of these two measures is in 3/4 while the second measure is in a standard 4/4 time, which is the primary time signature of the song. The first verse then follows, which is ten measures long, the first measure being in 3/4 time, measures two through four in 4/4 time, measure five in 2/4 time, and measures six through ten in 4/4 time. The final two measures (nine and ten) are actually an instrumental repeat of the previous two measures (seven and eight). Kapeesh?

The second verse mirrors the same by all accounts except that it is only eight measures long, omitting the final two instrumental measures heard in the first verse. Then comes the refrain which is five measures long, measures one through four being in 4/4 time while the fifth measure is in 2/4 time. The final lyrical line of the refrain (“into the light of the dark black night”) extends into the next section of the song, which is a fully instrumental verse eight measures in length as the second verse was.

The second refrain enters next, which extends to nine measures in length. The first five measures are identical to the first refrain while measures six and seven repeat the introduction of the song but then extend the final high chord for two more measures of 4/4 while the song slows down to a glaring halt. When the song picks up again, we hear a section that is different from anything else heard in the song, which we'll call a bridge. This bridge is instrumental and consists of three measures, the first two being in 3/4 time and the third measure being in 2/4 time.

Paul then goes into the final vocal verse, which is lyrically the same as the first. However, with this being the final segment of the song, he extends it to twelve measures, repeating the final two 4/4 measures twice. This means we hear the lyric “you were only waiting for this moment to arise” three times in a row for emphasis. And that's that!

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