Blackbird

I sing songs to my kids at night. My kids have very forgiving ears as I have a terrible voice. But, I sing, and they tell me they enjoy it. For the last 3 years I have been singing the same five songs every night. One of these songs is Blackbird by The Beatles. This is a great song, certainly, for its metaphorical significance during the time that The White Album was released and even today, but its simplicity make it equally celebrated amongst us with a poor memory and even poorer musical skills.

David Kim, with whom I work, was telling me the other day that he only sings "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" to his young son because that's the only song he knows. So, David, add Blackbird to your repetroire (and read to the bottom of this entry for my own addition to this simple classic):

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

And then I add a stanza about our black dog, Curly:

Black dog barking in the dead of night
Take these broken paws and learn to walk
All your life
You were only waiting for the moment so you could talk
Black dog bark
Black dog bark
Into the light of the dark night bark.