Paul Mccartney approves Beyonce’s cover of The Beatles’ “Blackbird” on her album “Cowboy Carter”
Written by Ariel Newbold on April 5, 2024
Paul McCartney has publicly acknowledged his approval of Beyonce’s cover of The Beatles’ “Blackbird” on her new country album, Cowboy Carter.
“I am so happy with Beyonce’s version of my song ‘Blackbird’. 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 Beyonce 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!
“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 Beyonce’s fabulous version can do to ease racial tension would be a great thing and makes me very proud.”
Her version includes some of The Beatles’ instrumentation from the master recording.
And, with the success of her album, The Beatles and other artists she covers on it have seen a bump in streaming.
The Beatles’ “Blackbird” is up 13% with 71,000 streams. Same with The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations,” Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots are Made For Walking,” and Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.”