Beatles: Blackbird Meaning

Song Released: 1968

Covered By: Glee Cast (2011)

Blackbird Lyrics

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your...

1. ng

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   Jan 5th 2012 !⃝

   Blackbird is not about civil rights or anything like that. Charles Manson thought that because he's a little crazy. The blackbird is Paul himself. Frustrated with the Beatles and wanting to break away and afraid to at the same time. "Take these broken wings and learn to fly" and he did with "WINGS".

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
2. anonymous

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   Jan 3rd 2012 !⃝

   Sunken eyes usually appear when you are tired, dehydrated, or don’t get enough sleep.
   
   Many of us pretend because we think we are supposed to mold into something we are not. Overtime we break ourselves in the process finding our self through sunken eyes out in the light of a dark black night. All I want in life is to see a moment to be free and understand.
   
   They were pry just singing about themselves in some way but kept their lyrics vague allowing almost anyone that listens to relate in some way. This is one thing that today's music lacks.
3. anonymous

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   Dec 21st 2011 !⃝

   My interpertation is....
   Black bird singing in the dead of night: you come alive at night and are being yourself when you are alone.
   Take these beoken wings and learn to fly: even though you have a setback or something, dont let that stop you, learn to accept yourself for who you are... Just like it says take something broken, and learn how to work with it.
   All your life you were only waiting for this moment to arise: you were always waiting to see yourself blossom, into a new person.
   Take these sunken eyes and learn to see: change your perspective, if something tragic happened/happens change what you see it as, it may be "the worst" now but time heals all wounds! REMEMBER THAT!
   - i personally think that this song is BEAUTIFUL it puts me to tears, i can relate to my interpertation soo much i have had many set backs but worring about them does NOTHING and the feelingyou get when they do not bother you anymore... (Even if they are still present) is amazing so i would say NO matter what you are going through... Always live your life to the fullest... Remember we all could be dead tomorrow...
4. anonymous

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   Dec 20th 2011 !⃝

   Bye Bye Blackbird is a song I heard sung many times in the 40's. The words were different from the ones used in the song McCartney sang or wrote. Some of the lines from the song I heard were. "make the bed and light the light, I'll be home late tonight, Bye Bye Blackbird" and "No one here can understand me. oh what hardluck stories they all hand me so Blackbird Bye Bye". There are other lines I was singing an hour ago, but can't remember them now as I am an old man, but none match or even resemble McCartney's song. It seems possible possible there are two versions. I am curious about this so if anyone can verify my song I would appreciate hearing from you. E-mail me at jmch@insightbb.com.. Thanks 12/20/2011
5. anonymous

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   Jul 31st 2011 !⃝

   I my opinion it just relates to the uncertain feeling you have at the beginning of new adventure.
6. anonymous

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   Jul 31st 2011 !⃝

   This song has nothing to do with civil rights. Paul wrote it after being awoke at six by the birds in India.
7. anonymous

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   Jul 18th 2011 !⃝

   I just watched a Paul Mac concert down here in Rio de Janeiro Brazil, and he told the audience that he was going to play a song about civil rights, and started Blackbird. So top rated answer number 2 pretty much nailed it
8. anonymous

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   Jul 8th 2011 !⃝

   Paul McCartney wrote this about the civil rights struggle for blacks after reading about race riots in the US. He penned it in his kitchen in Scotland not long after Little Rock, when the federal courts forced the racial desegregation of the Arkansas capital's school system. McCartney told Mojo magazine October 2008: "We were totally immersed in the whole saga which was unfolding. So I got the idea of using a blackbird as a symbol for a black person. It wasn't necessarily a black 'bird', but it works that way, as much as then you called girls 'birds'; the Everlys had had Bird Dog, so the word 'bird' was around. 'Take these broken wings' was very much in my mind, but it wasn't exactly an ornithological ditty; it was purposely symbolic."
9. beatleskinks

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   Jul 6th 2011 !⃝

   Blackbird the way i see it is all about the deathed. When it talks about the blackbirds eyes and broken wings the Beatles are talking about all of the imperfactions of the human being. The person dying may or may not be broken physically but they are imperfect. They say that as soon as the person slips away they will be perfect. All your life you were only waiting for this moment to arrive means that nomatter what we do we will die and that the whole point of living is dying. There is no getting around it. The last key line is Blackbird fly into the light of a dull black night is kind. I didn't really know what to think of this because the beatles were too spread out in faith to just specifically be talking about a heaven. I eventually interpreted it as when a person dies they walk blindly into the afterlife never truly knowing what lies ahead. no matter what the religion.
   
   That was my interpretation i hope that was close to the beatles intentions.
10. anonymous

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    Jun 27th 2011 !⃝

    Ok I just want to start of by saying I think everybody knows what blackbird is about
    
    
    To Paul McCartney his black bird was his life he says it in the song(dead of night)=his life
    
    
    You could tell by the way he was refering to hisself in the song he was going through a state of depression as am I but at a younger age
    
    But soon Paul's Blackbird went away and when (The Beatles) split up he went solo and you can pretty much tell he is much better

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
11. anonymous

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    Jun 25th 2011 !⃝

    I believe this song is about the fact that we all have to go through life with our certain disabilities. "take these broken wings and learn to fly" meaning that we have to learn to function with what we have. The " singing in the dead of night" means that we can get through even the deadest darkest night singing, that we have to.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
12. anonymous

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    May 26th 2011 !⃝

    You are all way off. I know I am right. The song is actually about death. It's a very emo song honestly. The lyric that is troubling most of you is actually what gives it all away. The song, more descriptively, is about how all of us are living just to die. There is no meaning, purpose, or value. We struggle every day to make life better for ourselves and the ones we love, we build relationships, we achieve goals and accomplishments, we acquire earthly possessions and amass power, but when it is all said and done, it all amounts to absolutely nothing. It's a very nihilistic point of view. Here is the lyrics line by line
    
    "Blackbird singing in the dead of night": We are living in darkness. There is no light at the end of the tunnel. There is no escaping death
    "Take these broken wings and learn to fly": We try to achieve something better for ourselves
    "You were only waiting for this moment to arise": You were only waiting for death.
    "Take these sunken eyes and learn to see": Again, we are struggling to survive and trying to achieve something more.
    "You were only waiting for this moment to be free.": Free from your ultimate end.
    "Blackbird fly Blackbird fly": Keep fighting for your life
    "Into the light of the dark black night": How can the DARK BLACK night have light? it is self-contradictory right? When you die, you walk into "the light". This is a blackbird though so it flies into the light of the dark black night. That is what the lyric means. That is the lyric that is tripping all of you up and it is actually the lyric that makes the most sense to me.
13. anonymous

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    Apr 20th 2011 !⃝

    the.song.is.about.both.the.civil.rights.movement.and.telling.the.whole.democratic.party.to.stop.being.cowardly.and.learn.to.fight.back.when.they.get.attacked.by.republican.fascist.pigs.
14. anonymous

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    Apr 7th 2011 !⃝

    I think that is is about dying and going to Heaven.
15. anonymous

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    Mar 30th 2011 !⃝

    One the night my sick uncle died (March 2010)at 2.00 am, a blackbird was singing outside. I didn't know they actualy sang at night but obviously do. The lyrics describe his journey from his sad ill health ridden life to death and beyond.

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