Paul McCartney Said 1 of His Songs Is a Sequel to ‘Blackbird’
Paul McCartney said one of his songs is a sequel to his Beatles classic, “Blackbird.” The singer-songwriter wrote “Jenny Wren” in 2005 and hoped it would positively impact people as “Blackbird” did 40 years before.
The singer-songwriter loves birds
In The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul wrote that he pursued bird-watching as a child. Liverpool wasn’t as industrial as some might think. Paul lived close to the countryside. He loved that he could get out of the “workaday world” and experience nature.
He had a little pocket book, The Observer’s Book of Birds, and used to go on walks mostly for solitude and to be able to “meander and meditate.”
Paul wrote, “Pretty soon I started being able to recognize the birds, and the wren became probably my favorite bird – very little, very private, a very sweet little thing. You wouldn’t see it that often, but suddenly you’d see it flit from one little bush to another.
“So whenever we’re talking about birds – blackbirds, also amongst my favorites, or larks or Jenny Wrens – it’s something I’ve long had an affection for.”
So, it’s no wonder Paul wrote a sequel to The Beatles’ “Blackbird.”
Paul McCartney wrote a sequel to ‘Blackbird’
The day Paul wrote his sequel to “Blackbird,” “Jenny Wren,” he found a quiet place along a canyon in Los Angeles where he likes to take walks. He sat down and wrote it.
“It’s always good, when you’re writing something, to write about a world you enjoy,” Paul said. So, he wrote about one of the birds he likes. Eventually, “Jenny Wren” became a sequel to “Blackbird.”
“Songs are so often in conversation with other songs, and this one is obviously in conversation with ‘Blackbird,'” Paul wrote. “I think that when you’re sitting down with an acoustic guitar, there are a few ways you can go. With ‘Blackbird,’ it’s a guitar part that you sing against, rather than strumming chords, and I think ‘Jenny Wren’ has the same idea.
“I think I was probably writing another ‘Blackbird,’ and intentionally so. I wouldn’t admit that to anyone if I weren’t working on this book – ‘Catching up on life’ – and all because of Jenny Wren.”
Paul had other inspiration for his sequel to ‘Blackbird’
On “Jenny Wren,” Paul had other inspiration besides “Blackbird.” Paul recalled fiction, specifically the “brave girl from Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend whose positive attitude allowed her to overcome her painful deformities.”
However, he also saw a bird. “I’m seeing the bird, but then I’m seeing a person again, and in this story she’s a great singer,” Paul wrote. “The kids may no longer have heard of her, but my parents and grandparents’ generations knew of the great Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind, whom they used to refer to as ‘Jenny Wren.’
“In my telling, it turns out that Jenny Wren, her soul having been taken from her, has stopped singing as a form of protest. Then the song becomes a bit reflective about our society – how we screw things up and how we sympathize with the person who protests.
“She has seen our foolish ways, and the way we cast love aside, the way we lose sight of life – poverty breaking up homes, creating wounded warriors. She has seen who we are, and like everyone else, she’s just looking for that better way…”
Paul meant for his sequel to “Blackbird” to be an optimistic song like its predecessor. He’s always aware that people are struggling in the world and likes to give them an upbeat songs. So, that’s why Paul says “Jenny Wren” has “OSS – Optimistic Song Syndrome.” So does “Blackbird.”
