Comments on: And Your Bird Can Sing

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 18:38:21 +0000

Exactly. A bird in a cage.. That was the illusion.

By: MikeP

MikeP — Wed, 16 Jan 2019 19:46:00 +0000

Of COURSE you’re skeptical, johan. Anything you can find (real or imagined) to take a silly swipe at McCartney is like gold to you.
BTW, much of Paul’s, like much of Lennon’s. music ages just fine. This song was never that great to begin with – a good listen, but not much more. The guitars are more interesting than the song itself, and ……let me think……I believe it’s been established that Paul played one of them.
Hmmmmmmm……there goes that assinine “sabotage” theory.

By: dan

dan — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 00:31:03 +0000

On that take John deliberately sings “and your bike is broken” instead of “and your bird is broken” that is what breaks McCartney up. They were more than likely high on weed.

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 08 Oct 2018 20:35:09 +0000

Here’s a tip for guitarists who want to play both solo parts simultaneously: Tune the D string a whole step up to E. It will ring sympathetically throughout. The double-stop solo is played on the G and B strings, playing 3rds and descending from the 9th position. By tuning the D to E, the middle 8 is more easily played by starting at the 4th fret barring the top 4 strings, then descend the D (now E) string and high E string simultaneously while keeping the G and B strings at the 4th position. Unusual fingerings but sounds good. And when you play the final chord as a typical A chord in open position, it sounds exactly like the record!

By: James

James — Fri, 05 Oct 2018 00:08:39 +0000

I have a friend who figured out how to play both parts simultaneously. He’s pretty good–but not THAT good, so it can’t be that hard.

By: castironshore

castironshore — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 13:32:36 +0000

From what you can hear of the anthology 2 version it might be even better, I really like the sound of the 12 string and pauls bass. John and paul were clearly pretty cooked doing the vocals though 😉

By: Kalle

Kalle — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 12:21:56 +0000

All of them relied on each other and all of them had less than average music production after the Beatles. Why the endless comparisons for crying out loud? This applies to some of the other childish posts I’ve read on this site.

By: Scott L.

Scott L. — Sun, 22 Jul 2018 20:44:08 +0000

McCartney & Harrison play dual lead. It says so in Beatle books and just today, July 22, 2018, Geoff Emerick had a live Q&A online, and he said Paul & George played lead. I wonder if Paul wrote the lead part? Trying to find that out.

By: Virginia Abreu de Paula

Virginia Abreu de Paula — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 19:05:34 +0000

OMG…another book by those silly people trying to make money using the Beatles names. I never read books about them. Usually there is not respect to them. Lots of people seems to get a kick spreading negative stories. They love to say Paul and John hated each other. What a strange hate…that makes Paul sing this song trashing him full of joy and laughing. By the way, Jane was not a singer. The truth is that nobody knows what was inside John’s head when he composed this song. Maybe it was for me. After all I used to have a bird, a real one, that could sing the National Anthem. He visited me in a dream, fell in love with me, got a little upset because I didn’t see him, I didn’t get him and wrote me that song. Thank you, John. Sorry I could not see you in that dream. I love you, baby. Something else. One of you here ( sorry I forgot his name) said that he loves Paul’s voice too but John’s vocals have more of an edge which helps with this song, I see here the nonsense competition again. As if we had to keep choosing who used to sing better. Gosh, The Beatles were a quartet. When will people ever learn? All of them were equaly important. And in this song three of them made it vocally precious. John starts with that style we all love. Then Paul and George joing him…and they all takes us to heaven. They were always complementing each other. And the best part of this song for me is exactly when they are singing together.

By: Virginia Abreu de Paula

Virginia Abreu de Paula — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 18:36:06 +0000

Not LSD. He smoked pot for the first time with Bob Dylan in 1964. That is where he asked the universe about the meaning of life and got that answer that there are seven layers. The coindence for me is that, in the same year I also asked the universe about the meaning of life. I wrote it on my note book. I was fifteen. February 1964. So it was some months before Paul asking. My answer was not the same, though. I got it next day without any drugs. In the same day I was invited to spend the week end in a country club with some girls to study the gospels. Only teenagers. And one of them suddenly started talking about why we are born. According the her there was a time we were all united. But we fell and since then duality was created giving birth to the good and the evil. Our mission is to restore the broken unity. Why? With love. However, to learn how to practice love the way Jesus meant is not so easy. There is a lot to learn yet. We have to forget forever all kinds of prejudice and see all creatures are equal. We are only one, everybody and everything connected. Possibly…it is important to remove seven layers till we learn how to love. By the way, that is all we need. Love.

By: Dave555

Dave555 — Wed, 14 Mar 2018 01:13:39 +0000

No.
Paul also played lead on Paperback Writer.

By: Mark, Australia

Mark, Australia — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 02:53:08 +0000

In the Steve Turner book A Hard Day’s Write, he is definitive in proposing that this song is actually a veiled dig at Paul McCartney by John Lennon. Hence, the ‘Bird’ is Jane Asher, the reference to ‘seven wonders’ a typically muddled reference to Paul’s ‘seven levels’ remark and Paul’s weariness at having ‘everything he wants’ at a still young age and yearning for new sounds. Turner also posits that it would not be unusual for John to tell Paul that he simply did not ‘get’ him (ie understood him). Pattie Boyd in her memoirs ‘Wonderful Tonight’ noted that while John & Paul were great old friends, they could get on each other’s nerves.

By: Babs

Babs — Thu, 25 Jan 2018 19:41:24 +0000

And your bird can sing…
Okay, this is a very old Liverpool expression, “An’ your bird can sing an’ all, I suppose?” Or “You’ll be tellin’ me your bird sings next …” Commonly used in a situation where someone was bragging, but more importantly, greatly exaggerating. In other words, you didn’t believe them. The Beatles often used common everyday local expressions in their songs. The ‘You don’t get me’ line means ‘you don’t fool me.’ Another frequently used expression.
The ‘seven wonders’ are literally the Seven Wonders of the World. No drugs. Just everyday language.
Hope that helps.

By: joereneik

joereneik — Tue, 19 Dec 2017 01:14:39 +0000

I find this an enormously complex solo – if you can play as a two finger harmony pattern- you are good, am .!

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 06:14:43 +0000

Yes, it definitely changes things a bit. The different tonalities of two guitars playing harmony is completely different from one guitar playing double stops. It’s VERY obviously the former, on the original recording.

By: Teddy Salad

Teddy Salad — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 13:38:40 +0000

But apparently not too awkward to bring up twice!

By: judg3

judg3 — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 17:54:49 +0000

I belive it was George and Paul.
John is definitely capable of doing it. I think that he’d be too impatient and lazy to figure it out.
It’s not difficult. It’s pretty straight forward.
The decending minor in the middle eight is right their in the chord. One guitar starts on the 5th string from the top. The other gtr 4th string from the top.

By: Phil Ryan

Phil Ryan — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 23:45:36 +0000

How would you get the minor thirds?

By: Sam Burkes, Tucson,

Sam Burkes, Tucson, — Sat, 26 Aug 2017 23:17:04 +0000

I’ve been playing guitar in bands for 45 years. I’ve accurately worked out both lead parts to AYBCS to the best my ability…just can’t play them simultaneously! I’m positive it’s George and Paul on their Epiphone Casinos, or George playing that Gibson SG he played in early ’66. One of the best thought-out double leads ever in the history of Rock. I’m sure George Martin had a hand with the Baroque-ish feel for those 2 separate part movements.

By: Mark Shepherd

Mark Shepherd — Tue, 04 Jul 2017 04:51:15 +0000

Putting in a good word for Paul & John: Paul also for the great bass work & John for the lead vocals…love Paul’s
voice too but John’s vocals have more of an edge which helps with this song