From humble album filler to borderline standard, Paul McCartney‘s “Blackbird” has certainly had an interesting journey. At barely over two minutes, the original features McCartney without any of his Beatles bandmates, playing acoustic guitars, singing, tapping his foot and providing the bird noises. It’s not quite the full one-man-band mode he adopted for some other White Album tracks, or for his debut solo album, as even with all the different tracks it’s still a pretty little acoustic ballad. Somehow, this ballad buried in the middle of side two of a double-LP set has become The Beatles‘ sixth most-streamed song and fifth most covered.
Most of those covers, of course, play the song pretty much the way McCartney did on his original recording, sans bird sounds. Armenian pianist Hovig Nassanian has made the somewhat controversial decision to play it on piano for his new cover.
Moreover, he’s gone a little off the beaten path, but it is one that is steeped in Beatles lore. Famously, McCartney was inspired to write “Blackbird” while thinking of times he was listening to George Harrison practice a Bach piece on guitar. So Nassanian has interpolated his own interpretation of some Bach into his cover, which helps explain why it absolutely doesn’t sound like “Blackbird” to start.
Nassanian’s performance is gentle and pastoral, conjuring up the feeling of relaxing in a meadow that is present in the original (even if it’s about civil rights). Have a listen:
