| "And Your Bird Can Sing" | |
|---|---|
 Cover of the Northern Songs sheet music (licensed to Sonora Musikförlag) | |
| Song by the Beatles | |
| Released |
|
| Recorded | 26 April 1966 |
| Studio | EMI, London |
| Genre | Psychedelia,[1] psychedelic pop,[2] power pop[3] |
| Length | 2:01 |
| Label | Parlophone |
| Songwriter(s) | Lennon–McCartney |
| Producer(s) | George Martin |
"And Your Bird Can Sing" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on their 1966 album Revolver, apart from in the United States and Canada, where it instead appeared on Yesterday and Today. The song was written mainly by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The recording features an extended dual-guitar melody, played by George Harrison and Paul McCartney, which anticipated the harmonised guitar arrangements commonly used by Southern rock, hard rock and heavy metal bands.
Lennon was later dismissive of "And Your Bird Can Sing", referring to it as "another of my throwaways ... fancy paper around an empty box".[4] The song's working title was "You Don't Get Me". Its oblique lyrics and Lennon's failure to reveal their meaning have encouraged several interpretations. One popular theory is that Lennon was addressing Frank Sinatra in response to a hagiographic article on the singer in Esquire magazine; another contends that the song was directed at Mick Jagger with reference to Marianne Faithfull.
The Beatles first recorded the track in the style of the Byrds. This discarded version was released on the 1996 outtakes compilation Anthology 2 and includes the sound of Lennon and McCartney laughing their way through a vocal overdub and unable to sing. This version of the song was included (without the laughing overdub) on the second disc of the 2022 Super Deluxe Edition of Revolver.
- ^ Riley 2011, p. 329.
- ^ Barker, Emily (21 March 2015). "The 50 Greatest Ever Beatles Songs – Picked by Johnny Marr, Royal Blood, Brian Wilson and More". NME. p. 54. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
psychedelic, but also propulsive, setting the song apart from the other jangly psych-pop songs of the time.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Litt/MojoBestwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ David Sheff (24 September 2010). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. St. Martin's Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-1-4299-5808-0.