The Beatles may have amassed an entire library of books about their every utterance, but some songs still defy examination. Take ‘Revolver’ classic ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ – catchy as hell, it pushed their beat sound to the limit… but no one can quite agree on what it’s all about.
Primarily written by John Lennon, the lyrics are oblique, and open to several interpretations. Essentially taking down a braggart, some critics believe the Fab Four were aiming at Frank Sinatra – in particular, a Gay Talese penned hagiographical profile, published in 1966.
If that’s the case, then the “bird” of the title could well be Nancy Sinatra – after all, father and daughter notched up a number of hit duets together.
To others, the braggart is actually Mick Jagger. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones enjoyed a friendly rivalry during the 60s, and in 1966 the Stones were very much on the ascendant, scoring huge international hits.
Could the ‘bird’ of the title refer to Marianne Faithfull? The parallel is perhaps too cute – Faithfull and Jagger began dating after the song was released.
Discarding the ego-centric discussions, there could be a simpler explanation: John Lennon’s then-wife Cynthia bought him a wind-up bird for his birthday in the mid 60s, a present that didn’t exactly go down well. Is an unhappy marriage the reason the song states repeatedly “you don’t get me”?
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The initial recording took ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ in a folk-rock direction, expanding on the success of ‘Rubber Soul’ and including a few pointers gleaned from The Byrds. Released on the ‘Anthology 2’ compilation, this take dissolves in giggles – typically for such an enigmatic song, no one is entirely sure what brought John Lennon and Paul McCartney to hysterics.
The final recording amped up the energy a little, with George Harrison hitting upon the idea of a double-tracked guitar solo. Duetting with Paul McCartney, the two played the lead in harmony, presaging advancements in Southern rock by a good decade or so.
The mysterious lyrics, taut production, and guitar advancements weren’t enough to save ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ from John Lennon’s typically over-harsh judgements of his own work, however. In one of his final interviews, he called it “another of my throwaways … fancy paper around an empty box”.
Re-visit the song below.
