Paul McCartney praises Beyoncé's 'Blackbird' cover, says it 'reinforces' song's civil rights message

Beyoncé's new cover of the Beatles' "Blackbird" has a massive admirer: Sir Paul McCartney himself.

The former Beatle is sharing his enthusiasm for the Cowboy Carter rendition of the song, which he originally wrote in 1968. "I am so happy with @beyonce's version of my song 'Blackbird,'" McCartney wrote Thursday on Instagram. "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!"

McCartney went on to say that Beyoncé called him to discuss the song. "I spoke to her on FaceTime and she thanked me for writing it and letting her do it," he wrote. "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."

McCartney has repeatedly cited the American civil rights movement as a primary inspiration for the song. "I was sitting around with my acoustic guitar, and I'd heard about the civil rights troubles that were happening in the '60s in Alabama, Mississippi, Little Rock in particular," McCartney told GQ in 2018 . "So that was in my mind, and I just thought, 'It would be really good if I could write something that if it ever reached any of the people going through those problems, it might give them a little bit of hope. So I wrote 'Blackbird.' In England, a bird is a girl, so I was thinking of a Black girl going through this, now is your time to arise, set yourself free, take these broken wings."

Beyoncé's version of the song, titled "Blackbiird," also utilizes McCartney's original acoustic guitar track from the Beatles' self-titled album (a.k.a. The White Album), and features a number of additional Black artists, including Brittney Spencer, Reyna Roberts, Tanner Adell, and Tiera Kennedy. 

It's one of numerous Cowboy Carter tracks that pays homage to seminal figures in country, rock, soul, and pop history: "American Requiem" credits Stephen Stills of Buffalo Springfield as a writer (presumably due to its similarity to "For What It's Worth"), "Ya Ya" features a sample of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" and an interpolation of the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations," and of course "Jolene" is a reworking of Dolly Parton's classic song of the same name. Elsewhere, Stevie Wonder plays harmonica on a track, and Nile Rodgers plays guitar. The album's interludes also feature snippets of songs by Chuck Berry, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Son House, and Roy Hamilton, as well as spoken-word segments from Linda Martell, Willie Nelson, and Parton. 

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