Eh. More like all of Paul's songs (minus Got to Get you into my Life and Yesterday), and this one. He likes George's songs, and didn't really comment on Ringo's songs. He hated this song, mainly because it WAS a throw-away song, and everybody was trying to analyze it. He doesn't really feel that way about his other songs, though.
His first wife Cynthia recalled that the song was inspired by her presenting Lennon with a clockwork bird inside a gilded cage, wrapped in gift paper, apart from the wind-up mechanism. She wound up the bird as she handed the present to Lennon so that it sang, leaving him with "an expression of sheer disbelief on his face" as he removed the wrapping paper. According to author Kenneth Womack, Lennon viewed the caged imitation bird as a metaphor for his marriage and a reflection of Cynthia's inability to understand him. The song's working title was "You Don't Get Me"
I am puzzled where the Mick Jagger / Frank Sinatra story came from (as I'd never heard that story before), but my interpretation is quite different. It always seemed to me that in the song's lyrics, the protagonist (whether this was literally John or not, I do not know) is silently speaking towards a woman in his life - not a man. She is boasting about all these amazing things she has seen / done / owned, and about this incredible man she is with, who wines and dines and woos her. The protagonist is secretly in Love with her, and she knows this, but she turns her nose up at him, for she feels he is not good enough for her. As she continues to boast to everyone around her about her awesome high-flying lifestyle, the protagonist watches her from afar, wondering out loud how long this honeymoon-phase will last her... And when her relationship eventually hits the rocks and becomes 'broken', and she is devastated, will she look again in his direction? And he says he will be there to pick up the pieces and still love her in the way that she deserves... But as long as she is so spellbound and obsessed with her current things and her current ways, she cannot 'see' him, nor can she 'hear' him... and therefore, she won't 'get' him (neither understand him, nor have him) - and she will eventually be sorry. Anyway, that's my personal take on the meaning of this song. I'm sure every listener gets their own meaning out of it, and that's totally cool - cheers!
And You're Bird Can Sing is one of the greatest guitar riffs ever. And such a wonderful, short, breezy Song. It's up there in my top 5, with Nowhere Man, I've Got a Feeling and I SAW Her Standing There.
What is truly remarkable about The Beatles is their musicality. Without formal training and going by instinct, they created songs admired by musicologists around the world. Symphony orchestras played their pieces and critiques were written about their chordal and melodic structures. All devised from playing by ear! Brilliant!
Great video, I always thought it was a jab at critics from the “You tell me that you’ve heard every sound there is” I would love to see a video on Hey Bulldog and a cover too with that epic bassline
I have always thought it was about Mick and his Bird at the time Marianne, it just sounds so John poking fun at Mick, and getting a Dig,, I know they were friends but there was always that rivalry between them as well.And coming from Britain myself as well, I can tell you, all young men call their Girlfriends my Bird, everyone and I mean everyone does it. Even young Girls nowadays call their boyfriend a bird as well. And with Mick giving Marianne one of their songs which she had just had a hit with at the time he wrote the song, I have to go with that theory, to me and everything I have learned about the Beatles from a kid to being 50 now, leads me to that conclusion. Another Fab Beatles video, sooooooooo good. Rodger
“Free As a Bird." “MY bird is GREEN.” “...singing in the dead of night....” “I’ve got crows at my window....” “This bird has flown.” “...the birds in the sky would be sad and lonely.” “Listen to the bird who sings it from the tree....” “I’m a Bluebird.” “On the Wings of a Nightingale."
Greetings from Vegas. Glad you're back, and happy you finally came through with my medicine and made me well. If only temporarily. This song, and your videos, reminds one about what's really important. Not the superficial, but friends and loved ones and cool people making good videos that entertain you and help you through those tough times by putting a smile on your face. The fact that you're glad just cause they are around regardless of any stupidity that might be happening in your life at any given time. They're there; and that's enough sometimes. If you're all about the superficial you don't get me. It's about you and it's about me and it's about us all. Sorry if I've gotten to sappy there. Just wanted you to know I appreciate what you do given your circumstances, and how right now seeing you post this today made an awful time a little more bearable. Put a smile on a face that's usually used to smiling all the time, but right now it's hard to find a reason to. Thank you.
Paul had a parrot who talked to him, but wouldn't acknowledge John when visited. Weird that John didn't have a subtext on one of his songs (Source: Jack Newman).
I just always assumed the song was a commentary on how people become so wrapped up in the material that they forget how to connect with their fellow people, yet the speaker will still be there for them if and when they realize their errors.
My theory, well theories, are the following. 1. The song was written about/for Cynthia. John wrote this around '65/66. That's close to the time when their marriage was starting to fall apart. 2. John wrote this about John. This would have been just slightly before their psychedelic period. It sounds a bit introspective to me. 3. It could have been about Jager but I do not think so. Mick and John were a great deal alike! Just my thoughts. Oh, btw. Jesus' brother was James, not Stanley. He, Stanley, was Peter's younger brother. They get confused a great deal. I am a pastor so I know these things lol! Great post!
John HATED everything haha but seriously i think john was writing about himself with a mixture of all the rockstars of the 60s in a sense. All the big rockstars found themselves having wealth and material things john included so it would be no surprise he would write a song as amazing as this one. But i do like the theory that Cynthia's weird present of a bird in a cage she gave john could have inspired this song :)
The Beatles Bunch song has been stuck in my head for weeks. I am in a love/hate relationship with you right now, Hobs. Great video as always! PS, (Still waiting for you to get on a rooftop to record "Don't Let Me Down") :)
I think I read somewhere that the "you say you've seen seven wonders" part has to do with what Paul said the first time he got high. He yelled something like "I see it now, there are seven wonders!"
I remember reading that Paul grabbed a paper and pencil during his LSD trip and quickly wrote down a flash of insight he got. The morning after, he read the note. It said “There are seven levels!"
I have read that Paul remembered his first experience with pot with Bob Dylan in a hotel room: Paul quickly found a piece of paper to scratch out notes to read later. The next morning, as McCartney revealed in a recent episode of his new virtual reality documentary, he discovered that he had written only "There are seven levels." What Paul remembers most clearly today is the desire to get the word out about this new revelation. "All I know is, it seemed very definite to me at the time," McCartney remembered. "And because it was my first pot experience, my overriding concern was telling everyone back home. You know how you do that? If you do something great, you can’t wait to tell your mates? Like, 'I’ve just been there!' or 'I’ve just met this person!' or 'I've just been to Disneyland!' Well I thought I’d cracked the meaning of life, so I couldn’t wait to tell everyone back home.... "Who knows? Maybe 'There are seven levels' is right. It certainly seemed very right that night."
I remember learning or at least trying to learn this song in the 1970's. In those days there were no internet videos to learn from, or TAB or note for note accurate sheet music. No, we had to rely on our ears. Slowing the 45 down to 33 1/3 to figure out the guitar parts.
John said before he wants to be somewhat of a reflection for the people. I believe this song is simply about anyone who is very talented, but uses their talent for worldly gains and empty pleasures, rather than for social change, peace, and spreading awareness that we are all love inside and out.
I heard in a interview they did back in the 60,s that in Britton they called a girl a bird so that's what I think bird means when they say it. And that's what they said it means birds = girls sounds pretty simple to me.
There's also a theory that says it is about Paul Just one massive veiled dig at him, probably cause Paul was way into the underground/counter-culture scene of London at the time And John was in Weybridge, far removed from all that, on trip after trip or sleeping the days away Which is hilarious, cause Paul helped heavily in the creation of it Both in the vocal parts and particularly with those killer twin Casino leads he worked out with George That would be just like John to rag on his mate like that with obscure imagery, while the one in question was right there
but also I only liked a few songs about revolver such a Elenaor Rigby and for no one, yellow submarine but after you talked so highly about it I decided to listen to all the songs and its now my favorite album other than rubber soul and sgt peppers
At this time in the 1960s girls were referred to as birds. A green bird could be an inexperienced or new girl. Yes John wrote about himself, but also what he saw around him. Ex. of self studies: Help, Run for Your Life, Norwegian Wood, Nowhere Man, In My Life, Jealous Guy, Free as a Bird. Ex. of studies of others: Sexy Sadie, Polythene Pam, Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite, Dear Prudence, How do you Sleep. So John never said who inspired this song, so it could fit in both camps.
I've spent a great deal of time researching the inspiration for songs, especially Beatle songs. John had a habit of dumping on songs (even those he was proud of) simply based on how he felt at the moment he was asked. During the period this song was written The Beatles were breaking away from the pop music (which I love) and moving towards a more experimental and risky sound. (which I also love) AYBCS is an example of one of the finest pieces of pop music ever created but I think John was trying to distance himself from the pop genre - especially in the eyes of his contemporaries. Rubber Soul and Revolver are considered by many to not only be watershed moments in The Beatles catalog, but in popular music. Some even consider them more pivotal than Sgt Pepper. I believe his response was along the lines of "Oh, that old thing?" much the way a woman might respond when complimented on a particularly stunning outfit. I must say that in all my discussions and research, you are the only person, other than myself, who has suggested that John wrote the song about himself. It left me quite impressed. I wondered if, in his lsd contemplations, he considered the nature of his duality at this crossroad. The young, hungry, driven John Lennon had become all that he thought he'd wanted to be. He had everything he wanted, had surrounded himself with possessions, but saw the pointlessness of it. So perhaps this was the inner, younger, hungrier (?) John telling the materialistic John that he'd never lose himself to the trappings of success, but would always "be 'round.' It's funny - on I Dig A Pony, he made a jab at the Rolling Stones "I rolled a stony," which he later regretted (there was also a suggestion that was about Yoko and while she wanted everything to be the way she wanted it to be, he just wanted her. He may have felt bad about that later) and so disparaged the song. As a musician, I love it. The complexity of the shifting time signature and how the resolution in the chorus occurs as the intro to the next verse.
Not all songs have to be from personal feelings or have to have deeper meanings. Somtimes the story of the evolution of a song is that it is found as interesting
Or maybe, it was just like 'The Walrus'. It meant nothing and was for no one. :P Great video again! Thanks for entertaining me. Keep up the great work! :)
hey my son just got the jim dandy (gretch) parlor acoustic. for a cheap guitar, it is beautiful and it plays and sounds amazing. big fan. we need to talk song writing ✍️
Lennon had read a profile on Sinatra by the writer Gay Talese in Esquire magazine. In it Frank boasted about all his possessions and the companies he owned. He also apparently took some digs at the Fab Four. This would appear to be the song's inspiration. John wrote the song in the spring of '66. Mick was still with Chrissie Shrimpton at the time and didn't take up with Marianne until later in the year, months after And Your Bird Can Sing was recorded.
If you say someone is green, generally what you're saying is that they're naive, (someone who shows a lack of experience, wisdom, or judgement). It's an English term to say they're a bit green.
Really?……Did he tell you this?………Sounds like you've made an assumption based on your perspective of the lyric. John was an Englishman, and saying someone is green in England means they are a bit naive.
I once read somewhere that it had to do with the Byrds, US rock band, and John telling the US that “your bird can sing” as in the Byrds are a good group. Not sure if there’s any truth to it but that’s another theory. Great video and love the song.
my theory: the song isn't about a real person, it's about a fictional character john made up that brags about everything, but when he/she relieze that having prices possessions doesnt mean everything he/she should "look in my (john) direction" because john has the same experience. about the bird: it's about bragging. he/she have heard every sound, have everything he/she wants, and even his/her bird can sing and swing
or another John song that talks about 'green' being jealousy. You Can't Do That. Ev’rybody’s green, ‘cause I’m the one, who won your love, But if it’s seen, You’re talking that way they’d laugh in my face.
As a huge fan of both Lennon and Sinatra, I'm surprised that John would write a lyric about Frank...especially in Franks own lingo. And about Franks bird. But what really impresses me, is that old blue eyes's bird could sing. He was a multi-talented dude so, I'm not surprised. I wish my bird could sing, and swing. Though I am happy that it's not green.
"Green" also means young and inexperience, while "Bird" is English slang for a girl, so these both could refer to Marianne Faithful. One of my favorite Beatle songs and never knew it was about her!
Finally someone hit the nail on the head. The perfect and predictable fake bird pleased the music master and the masses but It broke and the Emperor nearly died until the natural creative and quirky Bird returned and revived him.John Is telling us perfection Is lifeless.
Anyone know how george came up with the song's riff? Really fun to play when you get it, but it just seems like an underrated riff that nobody talks about a lot.
I agree with Lennon. It was a throw away tune but their throw-away's are better than most band's mainstream. The mix isn't very good, much like Do You Want To Know A Secret. All these things are subjective of course, but anything by The Beatles I enjoy regardless what mood I may be in at the time...
I personally think maybe John is referring to his struggle with fatherhood and his relationship with Cin and Julian (his first son with his first wife Cynthia ).... his "bird" His agnolashing and longing to be there for them, but also live a "free" life fling freely in the big world... away from the nest.... I think he is also talking about and to himself about it. "Tell me that you've got everything you want And your bird can sing But you don't get me You don't get" - yes he has a family (a little bird) but his not their they don't get him. His "prized possessions Start to weigh him down". John says: "I'll be 'round I'll be 'round When your bird is broken" But ... "Will it bring you down?" "You may be awakened " it troubles him. "And your bird can swing But you can't hear me You can't hear Me" Ok...😅🤗 This is just a weird cansperasy thery I have... I know its rely farfached... I would love to know if any one sees this or it's just me...?🤔 And you dont get me Any ways thank you for giving me a place to ramble on 🙏😁
GUYS it’s about a person and a bird! It’s so obvious when you really think about it. I mean when he sings “ and your bird can sing” it’s about a bird singing. Right!
Late 70s...early 80s I heard on some radio interview with somebody, not John though, that the song was about a self-absorbed, spoiled, wealthy female who was trying to impress John with the treasures she possessed. One of these was an elaborate wind up music box which, when it played, a bird would sing which - she presumably added - was very expensive. Memory is fickle but I am remembering something, and is too specific for me to have dreamt it. Did Marianne Faithful have a musicbox? ADDED: News Flash - See the earlier comment by Kim Senior below.
I've got a feeling somewhere in the 62 comments someone has mentioned this, but just incase I feel I must address it lol: To preface this; your channel is fucking fantastic. Love it. Can't get enough of it; however, I have to let you know that while in the states, "bird" is used, though seldomly, as a slang word for penis, it is more commonly used as an allusion to a "girl/woman", especially in the UK. This is where the term "chicks" as a common reference to "girls/women" is derived from. Also, very common place in our American-English lexicon. Further so, where I'm from at least, calling a girl a "bird" is slang for someone who has, hmm what's the best way to describe this without sounding extremely racist lol. Think baby phat jeans, bangs plastered to forehead, a turqoise belt louder than her incessant screaming, etc. Simply put "bird" is sometimes implemented as a misogynistic, demeaning, "slut shaming" term to describe a girl who has adopted the stereotypical Hispanic/African-American culture to the point where they become caricatures of themselves. The more you know!
I would love to find out whatever happened to that young man who met John outside his home looking for answers and discovering John doesn't them other than he is writing about his own life and then asks him if he's hungry *which always makes me love that John is so caring. Does anyone know what happened and who he is?
There were a lot of lost kids wandering about during the 60s and 70s. I remember seeing the documentary and I concluded the poor guy was probably mentally ill.
"Green" is another way of saying someone is new at something. Like "Greenhorn". I realise this vid is 3yrs old right meow and someone else likely commented this very comment. .🤟🏾✌🏾
I always thought the crux of the song was that all that a person pretends to possess is insubstantial, and impermanent, in contrast to the spiritual self (or Self - since they were looking at Hinduism), which is invisible. Same as the Who's "Can you see the real me ?", or Hendrix's "Can you see me ?". Oh- and great harmony guitar parts.
This may have been a veiled crack at Cynthia. One of the things she picked up at a store was a singing mechanical bird. This would explain the "when your prized possessions" bit, and maybe how John felt like he was being shafted by her caring more about stuff than about him? (After all, he'd been forced into the marriage when she got pregnant.)
John's and Cynthia's families both disapproved of them marrying. John and Cynthia pushed for it because conventionally they believed that it was the only way for them both to be there for the baby. Custody was more simple back then. The father was just expected to marry the mother or piss off. John's mother was singled out for not being married to the father of her daughters, and John wouldn't have wanted Julian to be considered bastard. It was just that ultimately it was an unhappy marriage for John, he struggled to connect with Julian, probably because of drugs and not being home much for the early years, and that together he and Yoko for whatever reason had a total disregard for their families and wanted to do their own thing for a while. It was his choice by all accounts and no doubt his issues with his parents played into him giving up.
He wasn’t forced, he wanted to marry Cyn, and when the family said “you don’t have to” he got angry and said “I will marry her, I love her” I do believe it’s about that present - he realized that they didn’t understand each other.
The only song we know for sure is about Mick is “Dig A Pony.” This was the turning point for the band between their “Lighter” stuff and the more “Arty” stuff. To borrow a line from one of John’s best friends “I’m not the man they think I am at home...”. I think it’s John saying you think you know me from some things they have written about me, but you (meaning the public or the press) don’t really know the real John. I think it’s an attack on the press in the vein of “Ballad of a Thin Man.”
I enjoy your love of all things Beatle. I think that master song writers, with a few exceptions, can't really lay out or explain a topic within the few lines that make up a pop song. I'm not much good at meanings anyway. But rather they give us solid emotional "experiences" and that's what Beatle songs are "about". Projecting a unique or at least interesting attitude about a "topic", thoughts or feelings that in reality, or in the song, barely get any didactic explanation. And Your Bird Can Sing seems to be John complaining about a person, but perhaps it's really just a another platform for exploring musical feelings accelerated by rollicking melody in the verses with a semi East Indian tonal guitar pallete and a bit of anger and disdain in the voice , and then a sad descending chorus with a serious sounding and seemingly penetrating questions in the lyrics. Like magic, what at a glance sounds like real communication, is in practical terms almost nonsense when the lyrics are taken out of their musical context. Beatle tunes nearly always and brilliantly convey well defined and often unique feelings or mental states that are hard to have in real life. They're projecting things beautifully right into an audience, but what we take as real meaning isn't present, only implied, and it's us that have to supply "the meaning" if we're so inclined. In other words, the lyrics are just show biz, but also likely refer loosely to a real events, thoughts, and/or conversations. The Lads are not fooling us with nonsense, they really do put us in a new place, but not a place we can get back to without hearing it again and again in recordings or replayed mentally, as the sound of they're voices, lyrics, and instruments create it within us. If you want to "know" what it means; play it over and over until you decide. But if you take the lyrics, riffs, and beats apart separately, you might miss the overall experience in your analysis of these bits. The Beatles don't explain life's mysteries, real events, theories, etc....... They are pieces of art combining brilliant sound and voices with all the elements (including lyrics) focused on presenting a convincing sound event. They continually find another unique "kitchen sink" of sounds melodies etc.....to throw at you. What I do find absolutely meaningful and useful is their emotional literacy and range of emotion and range of topic to make art - show biz: among the best of its kind in the 20th century. My daughter discovered a precise but of course fictional event hidden in the ending verse of Norwegian Wood. John hid this in plain sight. It's right there, but you have to loosen you moral compass to see it. Emotional, even neurotic cleverness at the edge of John's lyric art universe. Bob Dylan's second album gives you some clear and real meanings in some of the songs. A super rare example of art - journalism. Not not perfect journalism as the "events" he's recalling are only real as generalisations or moral equivalents of actual events. Lennons "They're Gonna Crucify Me" or whatever the correct name is, is an example of a kind of journalism. For instance, She loves you is about a specific brand of wild ecstasy, even though the lyrics are about: good news conveyed to a friend about the positive feelings of a girl. The girl, the friend, and the good news don't amount to a hill of beans on their own. Combined with the sounds the Beatles give to those lyrics, I literally imagine running up to my heart broke best friend screaming SHE LOVES YOU with a beaming and heart pounding smile knowing this will instantly bring unbounded joy to him. WTF? That isn't really much of a possibility for me and never was, yet that's what the song does.That's what that Beatle song is "about". It's about what is conjured up in me (and millions of others) when we hear it.
I swear John felt this way about every Beatles song.
Steven Tyler Rocks felt*
Eh. More like all of Paul's songs (minus Got to Get you into my Life and Yesterday), and this one. He likes George's songs, and didn't really comment on Ringo's songs. He hated this song, mainly because it WAS a throw-away song, and everybody was trying to analyze it. He doesn't really feel that way about his other songs, though.
Master Kek Yeah i'll edit it.
He did say a lot of his own songs were garbage
I think John was at that time trying to debunk the Beatles myth as he was striking out on a solo career. "The dream is over."
His first wife Cynthia recalled that the song was inspired by her presenting Lennon with a clockwork bird inside a gilded cage, wrapped in gift paper, apart from the wind-up mechanism. She wound up the bird as she handed the present to Lennon so that it sang, leaving him with "an expression of sheer disbelief on his face" as he removed the wrapping paper. According to author Kenneth Womack, Lennon viewed the caged imitation bird as a metaphor for his marriage and a reflection of Cynthia's inability to understand him. The song's working title was "You Don't Get Me"
Whenever I see your vids, I always think, "now, this guy could actually be the guy from that movie 'Yesterday.'"
I actually really like the anthology version of and your bird can sing
Same, you could clearly see that they are having a good time together and it sounds delightful
Same, it's amazing and I think the song is more suited for Paul's voice.
It sounds much more ambient
Yeah, the jangly guitar riff Lennon started with without the detailed dual solo. I enjoy both versions but Lennon's original version is my favorite.
Sounds like…The Byrds. 🐤🐦🐧🐔
If John ever asked if I was hungry
I would freeze up like a 90s computer
I’d probably shake like a leaf
I am puzzled where the Mick Jagger / Frank Sinatra story came from (as I'd never heard that story before), but my interpretation is quite different. It always seemed to me that in the song's lyrics, the protagonist (whether this was literally John or not, I do not know) is silently speaking towards a woman in his life - not a man. She is boasting about all these amazing things she has seen / done / owned, and about this incredible man she is with, who wines and dines and woos her. The protagonist is secretly in Love with her, and she knows this, but she turns her nose up at him, for she feels he is not good enough for her. As she continues to boast to everyone around her about her awesome high-flying lifestyle, the protagonist watches her from afar, wondering out loud how long this honeymoon-phase will last her... And when her relationship eventually hits the rocks and becomes 'broken', and she is devastated, will she look again in his direction? And he says he will be there to pick up the pieces and still love her in the way that she deserves... But as long as she is so spellbound and obsessed with her current things and her current ways, she cannot 'see' him, nor can she 'hear' him... and therefore, she won't 'get' him (neither understand him, nor have him) - and she will eventually be sorry. Anyway, that's my personal take on the meaning of this song. I'm sure every listener gets their own meaning out of it, and that's totally cool - cheers!
Had the same impression!
Same!!
Me, too.
My burning question is, did you already have a bird, or did you get a bird specifically for this video? Lol
Great work as always regardless!
Timbo Slice green = naive
We all have three little birds
So I see that your bird is green, and can most likely swing - but can she... sing?
I wonder if he will change or paint it when he does Blackbird
Something I admire about Paul is how simple and humble he is . He never wore gold or anything related to Boxers suddenly becoming millionaires .
Hes led a great life on his own tefms and is a great role model for any human really. Just seems like a very decent human being
And You're Bird Can Sing is one of the greatest guitar riffs ever. And such a wonderful, short, breezy Song. It's up there in my top 5, with Nowhere Man, I've Got a Feeling and I SAW Her Standing There.
What is truly remarkable about The Beatles is their musicality. Without formal training and going by instinct, they created songs admired by musicologists around the world. Symphony orchestras played their pieces and critiques were written about their chordal and melodic structures. All devised from playing by ear! Brilliant!
The chords progression and the amazing vocals are astounding. One of the best from the best.
Great video, I always thought it was a jab at critics from the “You tell me that you’ve heard every sound there is”
I would love to see a video on Hey Bulldog and a cover too with that epic bassline
Danish Ahmad oooooh yes yes please
I have always thought it was about Mick and his Bird at the time Marianne, it just sounds so John poking fun at Mick, and getting a Dig,, I know they were friends but there was always that rivalry between them as well.And coming from Britain myself as well, I can tell you, all young men call their Girlfriends my Bird, everyone and I mean everyone does it.
Even young Girls nowadays call their boyfriend a bird as well. And with Mick giving Marianne one of their songs which she had just had a hit with at the time he wrote the song, I have to go with that theory, to me and everything I have learned about the Beatles from a kid to being 50 now, leads me to that conclusion.
Another Fab Beatles video, sooooooooo good.
Rodger
The way you explain(convey) your explanation to every song is truely brilliant!
“Free As a Bird."
“MY bird is GREEN.”
“...singing in the dead of night....”
“I’ve got crows at my window....”
“This bird has flown.”
“...the birds in the sky would be sad and lonely.”
“Listen to the bird who sings it from the tree....”
“I’m a Bluebird.”
“On the Wings of a Nightingale."
Hehe green bird
this bird has flown
“When summers gone, we gonna fly away”
“I saw two magpies, a boy and a girl”
Loving all the revolver songs, thanks for introducing me to that album just got it on vinyl.
Do There's a place! Such an underrated and most often overlooked Beatles song.
This is one of my favourite beatles songs
lennon said himself beatles lyrics had different levels of meaning that most will never get, only a few inside knew
Greetings from Vegas.
Glad you're back, and happy you finally came through with my medicine and made me well. If only temporarily. This song, and your videos, reminds one about what's really important. Not the superficial, but friends and loved ones and cool people making good videos that entertain you and help you through those tough times by putting a smile on your face. The fact that you're glad just cause they are around regardless of any stupidity that might be happening in your life at any given time. They're there; and that's enough sometimes. If you're all about the superficial you don't get me. It's about you and it's about me and it's about us all.
Sorry if I've gotten to sappy there. Just wanted you to know I appreciate what you do given your circumstances, and how right now seeing you post this today made an awful time a little more bearable. Put a smile on a face that's usually used to smiling all the time, but right now it's hard to find a reason to.
Thank you.
It was Paul and Jane Asher... she fits the profile completely. Paul was very involved with her and fond of her whole family.
Paul had a parrot who talked to him, but wouldn't acknowledge John when visited. Weird that John didn't have a subtext on one of his songs (Source: Jack Newman).
I just always assumed the song was a commentary on how people become so wrapped up in the material that they forget how to connect with their fellow people, yet the speaker will still be there for them if and when they realize their errors.
My theory, well theories, are the following.
1. The song was written about/for Cynthia. John wrote this around '65/66. That's close to the time when their marriage was starting to fall apart.
2. John wrote this about John. This would have been just slightly before their psychedelic period. It sounds a bit introspective to me.
3. It could have been about Jager but I do not think so. Mick and John were a great deal alike!
Just my thoughts.
Oh, btw. Jesus' brother was James, not Stanley. He, Stanley, was Peter's younger brother. They get confused a great deal. I am a pastor so I know these things lol! Great post!
Prof2You Smithe. Great thoughts!
One of my favorites. Love playing it.
It's better than 95% of the songs John wrote after the Beatles.
Mind Games, Imagine, Just like Starting Over.... I disagree.
Working class hero, jealous guy,Woman ......... i disagree
morpher44 so that’s like, the 5% that we’re still good.
Plastic Ono album is punching you in the face right now.
Wdym, John made amazing music after the Beatles
John HATED everything haha but seriously i think john was writing about himself with a mixture of all the rockstars of the 60s in a sense. All the big rockstars found themselves having wealth and material things john included so it would be no surprise he would write a song as amazing as this one.
But i do like the theory that Cynthia's weird present of a bird in a cage she gave john could have inspired this song :)
John didn’t know how GREAT his Songs were♥️🤩🤩♥️
He did not, nor realize how easy it came to him, but really not so easy the rest of us know.
Probably in my top 10 Beatles songs. I'd always assumed the Jagger story was true but do I like your interpretation. Great video :)
The Beatles Bunch song has been stuck in my head for weeks. I am in a love/hate relationship with you right now, Hobs. Great video as always! PS, (Still waiting for you to get on a rooftop to record "Don't Let Me Down") :)
John Lennon...a wordsmith...this song is a classic...even without the fantastic music.
Would probably be in my top 5 Beatles songs.
I was always lead to believe it was about Jagger & his bird ( Faithfull) Got to love John Lennon, a brilliant man and such a nice Guy too.
Ah anything but a nice guy
He wasn't even nice to his own bandmates
He was nice to his killer! @@eziospaghettiauditore8369
I think I read somewhere that the "you say you've seen seven wonders" part has to do with what Paul said the first time he got high. He yelled something like "I see it now, there are seven wonders!"
I remember reading that Paul grabbed a paper and pencil during his LSD trip and quickly wrote down a flash of insight he got.
The morning after, he read the note.
It said “There are seven levels!"
I have read that Paul remembered his first experience with pot with Bob Dylan in a hotel room:
Paul quickly found a piece of paper to scratch out notes to read later.
The next morning, as McCartney revealed in a recent episode of his new virtual reality documentary, he discovered that he had written only "There are seven levels."
What Paul remembers most clearly today is the desire to get the word out about this new revelation.
"All I know is, it seemed very definite to me at the time," McCartney remembered. "And because it was my first pot experience, my overriding concern was telling everyone back home. You know how you do that? If you do something great, you can’t wait to tell your mates? Like, 'I’ve just been there!' or 'I’ve just met this person!' or 'I've just been to Disneyland!' Well I thought I’d cracked the meaning of life, so I couldn’t wait to tell everyone back home....
"Who knows? Maybe 'There are seven levels' is right.
It certainly seemed very right that night."
I remember learning or at least trying to learn this song in the 1970's. In those days there were no internet videos to learn from, or TAB or note for note accurate sheet music. No, we had to rely on our ears. Slowing the 45 down to 33 1/3 to figure out the guitar parts.
John said before he wants to be somewhat of a reflection for the people. I believe this song is simply about anyone who is very talented, but uses their talent for worldly gains and empty pleasures, rather than for social change, peace, and spreading awareness that we are all love inside and out.
Wherever the inspiration came from, it's a great song!
I heard in a interview they did back in the 60,s that in Britton they called a girl a bird so that's what I think bird means when they say it. And that's what they said it means birds = girls sounds pretty simple to me.
I thought it was in the Key of E. I always played it in E.
There's also a theory that says it is about Paul
Just one massive veiled dig at him, probably cause Paul was way into the underground/counter-culture scene of London at the time
And John was in Weybridge, far removed from all that, on trip after trip or sleeping the days away
Which is hilarious, cause Paul helped heavily in the creation of it
Both in the vocal parts and particularly with those killer twin Casino leads he worked out with George
That would be just like John to rag on his mate like that with obscure imagery, while the one in question was right there
Love the “Paul’s New Songs” piece.
its about how John Lennon can see in the future and saw my parakeet fly away as I was moving to my new house and decided to make a song about it
but also I only liked a few songs about revolver such a Elenaor Rigby and for no one, yellow submarine but after you talked so highly about it I decided to listen to all the songs and its now my favorite album other than rubber soul and sgt peppers
At this time in the 1960s girls were referred to as birds. A green bird could be an inexperienced or new girl. Yes John wrote about himself, but also what he saw around him. Ex. of self studies: Help, Run for Your Life, Norwegian Wood, Nowhere Man, In My Life, Jealous Guy, Free as a Bird.
Ex. of studies of others: Sexy Sadie, Polythene Pam, Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite, Dear Prudence, How do you Sleep.
So John never said who inspired this song, so it could fit in both camps.
Yes, your bird is green.
Somehow I ended up on your channel tonight, and I have to say, this is fantastic work you're doing here.
One of my favorites
I Think it’s about Mick&Marianne 💕🤩She had a pretty song out in the 1960’s
I've spent a great deal of time researching the inspiration for songs, especially Beatle songs. John had a habit of dumping on songs (even those he was proud of) simply based on how he felt at the moment he was asked. During the period this song was written The Beatles were breaking away from the pop music (which I love) and moving towards a more experimental and risky sound. (which I also love) AYBCS is an example of one of the finest pieces of pop music ever created but I think John was trying to distance himself from the pop genre - especially in the eyes of his contemporaries. Rubber Soul and Revolver are considered by many to not only be watershed moments in The Beatles catalog, but in popular music. Some even consider them more pivotal than Sgt Pepper. I believe his response was along the lines of "Oh, that old thing?" much the way a woman might respond when complimented on a particularly stunning outfit. I must say that in all my discussions and research, you are the only person, other than myself, who has suggested that John wrote the song about himself. It left me quite impressed. I wondered if, in his lsd contemplations, he considered the nature of his duality at this crossroad. The young, hungry, driven John Lennon had become all that he thought he'd wanted to be. He had everything he wanted, had surrounded himself with possessions, but saw the pointlessness of it. So perhaps this was the inner, younger, hungrier (?) John telling the materialistic John that he'd never lose himself to the trappings of success, but would always "be 'round.' It's funny - on I Dig A Pony, he made a jab at the Rolling Stones "I rolled a stony," which he later regretted (there was also a suggestion that was about Yoko and while she wanted everything to be the way she wanted it to be, he just wanted her. He may have felt bad about that later) and so disparaged the song. As a musician, I love it. The complexity of the shifting time signature and how the resolution in the chorus occurs as the intro to the next verse.
Great as always!
Love your content!, could you do I am the Walrus?
Reijiropaws I don’t even think John himself knows what I Am the Walrus is about
Not all songs have to be from personal feelings or have to have deeper meanings. Somtimes the story of the evolution of a song is that it is found as interesting
The guitar riff is amazing and difficult. Whoever played it proved their abilities.
Or maybe, it was just like 'The Walrus'. It meant nothing and was for no one. :P
Great video again! Thanks for entertaining me. Keep up the great work! :)
Also can you make a video on crippled inside by John Lennon
hey my son just got the jim dandy (gretch) parlor acoustic. for a cheap guitar, it is beautiful and it plays and sounds amazing. big fan. we need to talk song writing ✍️
I think John was simply attempting to do another Dylan style message with a fictitious character in mind...if so, brilliantly achieved, in my opinion!
I think this is as good an explanation as any!
I love the laughing during the recording.
Hey HollyHobs you’re tremendously talented . I enjoy your Beatles song explanations I only wish I discovered you a year ago when these were released
One of my favourite songs of all time. John, you are SO wrong.
Lennon had read a profile on Sinatra by the writer Gay Talese in Esquire magazine. In it Frank boasted about all his possessions and the companies he owned. He also apparently took some digs at the Fab Four. This would appear to be the song's inspiration.
John wrote the song in the spring of '66. Mick was still with Chrissie Shrimpton at the time and didn't take up with Marianne until later in the year, months after And Your Bird Can Sing was recorded.
If you say someone is green, generally what you're saying is that they're naive, (someone who shows a lack of experience, wisdom, or judgement). It's an English term to say they're a bit green.
John refers to being green in You Can't Do That, he's talking about being jealous.
Really?……Did he tell you this?………Sounds like you've made an assumption based on your perspective of the lyric.
John was an Englishman, and saying someone is green in England means they are a bit naive.
liquidvic Funny, that's blue in France (for being naive and inexperienced)
Strange generally blue in England and The US means sad
liquidvic greenhorn
I once read somewhere that it had to do with the Byrds, US rock band, and John telling the US that “your bird can sing” as in the Byrds are a good group. Not sure if there’s any truth to it but that’s another theory. Great video and love the song.
It's great to see you uploading again and making great videos. Can you make a video on Hey Bulldog? BTW, you have a great voice
This is my favorite Beatles song.
You should do Eleanor Rigby, or A Day in the Life.
Really like your videos, man 👍
There's A Place IS a fantastic song. Never played on any so called "Oldies" radio stations. What a shame.
I love this song too much!
my theory: the song isn't about a real person, it's about a fictional character john made up that brags about everything, but when he/she relieze that having prices possessions doesnt mean everything he/she should "look in my (john) direction" because john has the same experience.
about the bird:
it's about bragging. he/she have heard every sound, have everything he/she wants, and even his/her bird can sing and swing
simon wikaneder
Great video. Absolutely love this track. There is an excellent cover of this on YT by Saltwater Roses. As the lead singer says: two minutes of joy.
Green would not evoke money for Britons. It would, however, connote inexperience.
or another John song that talks about 'green' being jealousy. You Can't Do That. Ev’rybody’s green,
‘cause I’m the one, who won your love,
But if it’s seen,
You’re talking that way they’d laugh in my face.
Jama Thaughn You’re absolutely right, although he (Hollyhobs) does mention jealousy.
green is also another way to express being young and fresh, as in green wood
As a huge fan of both Lennon and Sinatra, I'm surprised that John would write a lyric about Frank...especially in Franks own lingo. And about Franks bird.
But what really impresses me, is that old blue eyes's bird could sing. He was a multi-talented dude so, I'm not surprised.
I wish my bird could sing, and swing. Though I am happy that it's not green.
I think john had a dream of a man on a flaming pie give him the lyrics to his own song, knowing years later you'd make a kick-ass beatle bunch skit!
"Green" also means young and inexperience, while "Bird" is English slang for a girl, so these both could refer to Marianne Faithful. One of my favorite Beatle songs and never knew it was about her!
Can YOUR bird sing though? ;)
John read H.C. Andersen's "The Nightingale" and wrote the song presenting himself as the nightingale.
Finally someone hit the nail on the head. The perfect and predictable
fake bird pleased the music master
and the masses but It broke and the
Emperor nearly died until the natural
creative and quirky Bird returned and revived him.John Is telling us
perfection Is lifeless.
Anyone know how george came up with the song's riff? Really fun to play when you get it, but it just seems like an underrated riff that nobody talks about a lot.
I agree with Lennon. It was a throw away tune but their throw-away's are better than most band's mainstream. The mix isn't very good, much like Do You Want To Know A Secret. All these things are subjective of course, but anything by The Beatles I enjoy regardless what mood I may be in at the time...
What, specifically, is wrong with the mix in “Secret."
I personally think maybe John is referring to his struggle with fatherhood and his relationship with Cin and Julian (his first son with his first wife Cynthia ).... his "bird"
His agnolashing and longing to be there for them, but also live a "free" life fling freely in the big world... away from the nest....
I think he is also talking about and to himself about it.
"Tell me that you've got everything you want
And your bird can sing
But you don't get me
You don't get" - yes he has a family (a little bird) but his not their they don't get him.
His "prized possessions
Start to weigh him down".
John says: "I'll be 'round
I'll be 'round
When your bird is broken"
But ...
"Will it bring you down?"
"You may be awakened " it troubles him.
"And your bird can swing
But you can't hear me
You can't hear
Me"
Ok...😅🤗
This is just a weird cansperasy thery I have... I know its rely farfached...
I would love to know if any one sees this or it's just me...?🤔
And you dont get me
Any ways thank you for giving me a place to ramble on 🙏😁
I feel like he's singing from the perspective of the universe, or enlightenment, to everyone.
He called mick jagger moves like jagger 3:18 😂
Welcome back More Beatles fan boys are in coming
What kind of guitar were you playing at the beginning?
This is my favorite song on Revolver I wouldn't be surprised if most people who like it play guitar
What's the footage with john talking to scruffy dude ?
It's from this video of John talking to a fan/possible stalker hanging out around his house: ruclips.net/video/27Q_AG_nLIo/видео.html
some hippie decided to hide out and live in johns backyard and how John tells him to not take his words that he says in his songs seriously
It's from the documentary Imagine.
Peter Fonda was also mentioned as a reason for some of this song.
GUYS it’s about a person and a bird! It’s so obvious when you really think about it. I mean when he sings “ and your bird can sing” it’s about a bird singing. Right!
Late 70s...early 80s I heard on some radio interview with somebody, not John though, that the song was about a self-absorbed, spoiled, wealthy female who was trying to impress John with the treasures she possessed. One of these was an elaborate wind up music box which, when it played, a bird would sing which - she presumably added - was very expensive.
Memory is fickle but I am remembering something, and is too specific for me to have dreamt it.
Did Marianne Faithful have a musicbox?
ADDED: News Flash - See the earlier comment by Kim Senior below.
I've got a feeling somewhere in the 62 comments someone has mentioned this, but just incase I feel I must address it lol: To preface this; your channel is fucking fantastic. Love it. Can't get enough of it; however, I have to let you know that while in the states, "bird" is used, though seldomly, as a slang word for penis, it is more commonly used as an allusion to a "girl/woman", especially in the UK. This is where the term "chicks" as a common reference to "girls/women" is derived from. Also, very common place in our American-English lexicon. Further so, where I'm from at least, calling a girl a "bird" is slang for someone who has, hmm what's the best way to describe this without sounding extremely racist lol. Think baby phat jeans, bangs plastered to forehead, a turqoise belt louder than her incessant screaming, etc. Simply put "bird" is sometimes implemented as a misogynistic, demeaning, "slut shaming" term to describe a girl who has adopted the stereotypical Hispanic/African-American culture to the point where they become caricatures of themselves. The more you know!
I would love to find out whatever happened to that young man who met John outside his home looking for answers and discovering John doesn't them other than he is writing about his own life and then asks him if he's hungry *which always makes me love that John is so caring. Does anyone know what happened and who he is?
There were a lot of lost kids wandering about during the 60s and 70s.
I remember seeing the documentary and I concluded the poor guy was probably mentally ill.
Awe♥️🤩🤩♥️🎸
I was contemplating that it might be about Linda McCartney; however, Paul didn't meet her until a year later.
I might be wrong, but it's probably based on the story of "The Emperor and The Nightingale". The lyrics have a strong common similarity to the story.
"Green" is another way of saying someone is new at something. Like "Greenhorn".
I realise this vid is 3yrs old right meow and someone else likely commented this very comment. .🤟🏾✌🏾
Yeah, Revolution 9 and Yoko’s screeching were genius.
I always thought the crux of the song was that all that a person pretends to possess is insubstantial, and impermanent, in contrast to the spiritual self (or Self - since they were looking at Hinduism), which is invisible. Same as the Who's "Can you see the real me ?", or Hendrix's "Can you see me ?". Oh- and great harmony guitar parts.
This may have been a veiled crack at Cynthia. One of the things she picked up at a store was a singing mechanical bird. This would explain the "when your prized possessions" bit, and maybe how John felt like he was being shafted by her caring more about stuff than about him? (After all, he'd been forced into the marriage when she got pregnant.)
John's and Cynthia's families both disapproved of them marrying. John and Cynthia pushed for it because conventionally they believed that it was the only way for them both to be there for the baby. Custody was more simple back then. The father was just expected to marry the mother or piss off. John's mother was singled out for not being married to the father of her daughters, and John wouldn't have wanted Julian to be considered bastard.
It was just that ultimately it was an unhappy marriage for John, he struggled to connect with Julian, probably because of drugs and not being home much for the early years, and that together he and Yoko for whatever reason had a total disregard for their families and wanted to do their own thing for a while.
It was his choice by all accounts and no doubt his issues with his parents played into him giving up.
Thank you for elaborating on this. I had no clue about how complex this issue was.
Perhaps this is why John resented Julian so.
He wasn’t forced, he wanted to marry Cyn, and when the family said “you don’t have to” he got angry and said “I will marry her, I love her”
I do believe it’s about that present - he realized that they didn’t understand each other.
A song doesn't have to be about anyone specific. We just make them up sometimes ya know.
The only song we know for sure is about Mick is “Dig A Pony.” This was the turning point for the band between their “Lighter” stuff and the more “Arty” stuff. To borrow a line from one of John’s best friends “I’m not the man they think I am at home...”. I think it’s John saying you think you know me from some things they have written about me, but you (meaning the public or the press) don’t really know the real John. I think it’s an attack on the press in the vein of “Ballad of a Thin Man.”
Green= Spring, blooming, fresh. I don't know, I'm just guessing.
I enjoy your love of all things Beatle. I think that master song writers, with a few exceptions, can't really lay out or explain a topic within the few lines that make up a pop song. I'm not much good at meanings anyway. But rather they give us solid emotional "experiences" and that's what Beatle songs are "about". Projecting a unique or at least interesting attitude about a "topic", thoughts or feelings that in reality, or in the song, barely get any didactic explanation. And Your Bird Can Sing seems to be John complaining about a person, but perhaps it's really just a another platform for exploring musical feelings accelerated by rollicking melody in the verses with a semi East Indian tonal guitar pallete and a bit of anger and disdain in the voice , and then a sad descending chorus with a serious sounding and seemingly penetrating questions in the lyrics. Like magic, what at a glance sounds like real communication, is in practical terms almost nonsense when the lyrics are taken out of their musical context. Beatle tunes nearly always and brilliantly convey well defined and often unique feelings or mental states that are hard to have in real life. They're projecting things beautifully right into an audience, but what we take as real meaning isn't present, only implied, and it's us that have to supply "the meaning" if we're so inclined.
In other words, the lyrics are just show biz, but also likely refer loosely to a real events, thoughts, and/or conversations. The Lads are not fooling us with nonsense, they really do put us in a new place, but not a place we can get back to without hearing it again and again in recordings or replayed mentally, as the sound of they're voices, lyrics, and instruments create it within us. If you want to "know" what it means; play it over and over until you decide. But if you take the lyrics, riffs, and beats apart separately, you might miss the overall experience in your analysis of these bits.
The Beatles don't explain life's mysteries, real events, theories, etc....... They are pieces of art combining brilliant sound and voices with all the elements (including lyrics) focused on presenting a convincing sound event. They continually find another unique "kitchen sink" of sounds melodies etc.....to throw at you. What I do find absolutely meaningful and useful is their emotional literacy and range of emotion and range of topic to make art - show biz: among the best of its kind in the 20th century.
My daughter discovered a precise but of course fictional event hidden in the ending verse of Norwegian Wood. John hid this in plain sight. It's right there, but you have to loosen you moral compass to see it. Emotional, even neurotic cleverness at the edge of John's lyric art universe.
Bob Dylan's second album gives you some clear and real meanings in some of the songs. A super rare example of art - journalism. Not not perfect journalism as the "events" he's recalling are only real as generalisations or moral equivalents of actual events. Lennons "They're Gonna Crucify Me" or whatever the correct name is, is an example of a kind of journalism.
For instance, She loves you is about a specific brand of wild ecstasy, even though the lyrics are about: good news conveyed to a friend about the positive feelings of a girl. The girl, the friend, and the good news don't amount to a hill of beans on their own. Combined with the sounds the Beatles give to those lyrics, I literally imagine running up to my heart broke best friend screaming SHE LOVES YOU with a beaming and heart pounding smile knowing this will instantly bring unbounded joy to him. WTF? That isn't really much of a possibility for me and never was, yet that's what the song does.That's what that Beatle song is "about". It's about what is conjured up in me (and millions of others) when we hear it.