Everywhere I go I find a pal

Peter Weinschenk, Editor, The Record-Review

It’s sort of amazing. I have lived with the Beatles song, “Blackbird,” for over a half century.

The song, which features Paul McCartney singing solo with guitar accompaniment, is a beautiful tune written while the group studied transcendental meditation in India. The song responds to escalating mid-Sixties racial tensions in the United States.

I can remember hearing the song for the first time on my family’s RCA stereo record player. It was one of many great songs on the group’s “White Album.”

Later, as an adult, I tried to play the song on guitar. That proved to be a challenge. The song isn’t a standard rocker with regular chords. Indeed, the song’s melody is played largely in tenth chords up and down the guitar neck. (Apparently, Donovan, who accompanied the Beatles to India, taught McCartney this guitar technique.) I made further progress on “Blackbird” while on a camping trip to the Sylvania National Wilderness in Michigan. I can recall happy hours spent on a hill overlooking Crooked Lake hunched over my Washburn acoustic guitar trying to figure out the song. I made good progress, almost to the point where I could play the tune without too much embarrassment.

The song progressed after I purchased the four-inches thick book of all of the Beatles songs laid out in regular notation and tab. The music was a revelation. The song suddenly made a lot more sense.

Now, I want to do something different with “Blackbird.”

I want to be able to play a jazzed up guitar version of the song.

So, I am going for it. Over the last couple of weeks, I have been playing the song with some new, different rhythms and with some more colorful chords. This is exciting work. It is rewarding to try and make the tune, a modern standard, one’s own.

The song’s chord structure is sturdy, strong. One can take great musical liberties and still remain true to the tune.

Over the weekend, my musical trio, The Jazzberries, tried the song out for the first time. It went over great. My wife, the group’s vocalist, teared up after singing the lyrics.

The song was wonderful to solo over. Lines played over the chords were poignant. The melody melted easily into the blues. The effect was powerful.

There are great, recorded jazz versions of “Blackbird.” I have been listening to them, stealing bits and pieces here and there but always with the larger intention of recrafting the song with a personal touch.

I think my version now is pretty much me.

And I like that. I have had “Blackbird” swimming around in my head for decades and decades, most of my life. Now I have the chance to bring the song into my heart.

I am taking a next step in my relationship with “Blackbird.” I am thrilled.