I grew up listening to The Beatles. It's wonderful that 54 years after they broke up , we're still talking about their songs, whatever they mean. Why? Because they were that good.
"And Your Bird Can Sing" sounded great to me the first time I heard it in 1966, and it remains one of my favorite Beatles tracks today. That song was so well-written, well-arranged, well-performed, and well-recorded, that it will endure long into the future, long after we're all gone. All you lucky folks hearing that track and reading this in 2066 and 2166 know exactly what I mean. It's brilliant, isn't it?!!
For the record: The main song line is about a difficult moment when John's wife, Cynthia, presented John with a caged bird as a Birthday present. John couldn't understand the gift at all, especially the thought of a bird in a cage (perhaps also how his life had turned around with all the touring etc.). You can't see me, you can't see me! Please note also another Lennon song, with a completely different meaning, years later: ' Free as a bird'.
It's about Sinatra, and it's a double entendra. The bird is Mia Farrow, whom Old Blue eyes was dating at the time. It's also a reference to Sinatra's anatomy since Frankie like to refer to a certain part of the male anatomy as a bird. Or at least that's what I heard on a RU-vid video a few weeks ago.
The “bird” is Sinatra’s “Johnson”. Check out “James Hargreaves Guitar - And Your Bird Can Sing-Lennon vs Sinatra” It’s a great video explaining the whole thing.
The thing about songwriting is most songs are not about just one topic. Something may have inspired the first few lines, but then you have to fill it out with words that take it to the end.
Oh yeah! That's ANOTHER great song with Lennon on lead vocal! "Norwegian Wood" (heard on their previous album, "Rubber Soul") is yet another brilliant demonstration of The Beatles' amazing originality and creativity. Another perfect track. "And when I awoke, I was alone, this bird had flown. So, I lit a fire. Isn't it good, Norwegian Wood?" Very good indeed.
The bird is Ronnie Spector, who John Lennon had a thing for, but was never able to score with. The song is directed at Phil Spector, kind of a jealous vibe. The Beatles would never show any jealousy toward the Stones, even if it existed. They wouldn’t give the Stones that satisfaction, if you will. The first verse…and your bird can sing…fits. Ronnie was a famous singer. The Ronettes were touring with The Beatles in the 1966 American tour, but a jealous Phil wouldn’t let Ronnie go…she was replaced. The second verse…and your bird is green…when John tried to score with Ronnie in February 1964, Ronnie told him she was a virgin (it’s in Ronnie’s autobiography). The third verse…and your bird can swing…would suggest that maybe John and Ronnie did get together, leaving jealous Phil to wonder. The you don’t get me was a line to Phil Spector that you don’t get to produce the most talented act in the world…The Beatles. Well, by the time John was commenting on his songs in Playboy or Rolling Stone magazines in 1970 and later, Spector had done work on Let It Be and some of John’s solo work, so saying And Your Bird Can Sing was about Ronnie and Phil would have been awkward, so John dismissed it as a throw away.
I always thought the song was about Mick and Marianne Faithfull, on the surface, although some believe it was about Frank Sinatra (!) and his penis. Probably not, because John was doing acid every day, during that period. It was probably a dig at Paul, who didn't share John's infatuation with acid, although Jane Asher didn't sing professionally. Those who argue against the former claim, insisting Jagger and Faithfull weren't "a couple" until later in 1966, forget that Mick had written As Tears Go By, her first single, in 1964, when she was still 17. It's probably closer to reality to say he was on the pop-star-railroad, with little personal time, until he realized she'd grown up, and was almost 19, because they'd been "linked" in the gossip columns, in late 1965 and early 1966. Her career was faltering, with no successful singles to follow up Tears, her highest-charting record, at #22, her audience limited to the UK, Australia, and Sweden.
LOTS of people care VERY DEEPLY what songs are about. Literally hundreds of millions of people care about Beatles songs. Lmao Are you guys new to music?
The American poet , Allen Ginsberg , was going through his stripping off naked phase and he did this in front of The Beatles and their wives when they met him in London. I think it was 1966 ? Apparently Lennon was a bit put out by the naked poet and told Ginsberg not to do this in front of the birds. Birds was a widely used term for women in GB mid 1960s. ‘The Liverbirds’ was a popular comedy series in GB in the late 1960s. The main characters were two young Liverpool women. Before this, early 1960s , Harold Steptoe and his father in the popular sitcom, ‘Steptoe and Son ‘ also referred to women as birds . Perhaps Lennon got the birds expression from this programme? ‘ Hard Days Night’, the film , used a couple of expressions from ‘Steptoe and Son’.
Not 100% accurate. The fact that the song sounded like a second rate BYRDS rip off might be one of the reasons why it was called And Your Bird Can Sing. (You already played a swatch of the version that's on Anthology, so if you listen to that version, it sounds very much like The Byrds) Also, if you know ANYTHING about "The Rat Pack" and Frank Sinatra, especially his put down of The Beatles during that period, the song was really a swipe at Sinatra, particularly the line "Tell me that you've heard every sound there is AND YOUR BIRD CAN SWING". Anybody who knows ANYTHING about The Rat Pack will immediately get that reference.
Since the Byrds were formed as an American response to the Beatles and that THEY were influenced by the Beatles and that this EXCELLENT song (See the Jam's cover version) is witty and sarcastic in a way other Beatles influenced bands were usually not your logic fails. While of course you are under no obligation to like that particular song (I don't rate 'Hey Jude' because I can't bare the last three minutes of 'Nah, Nah, nah,na na nan, Nah!' on repeat) your dismissal of it as 'second rate' is absurd. This song is very tight and fluid with no flab and gets straight to the point from the opening seconds until the end.
