‘And your bird can sing’

There are several suggested reasons as to what events led to the creation of this section. Firstly, Cynthia Lennon presented John with this as a gift, all wrapped up except for the key which she turned and it began to play as John opened it. It is said he had a look of sheer disbelief on his face as he opened it and felt that the singing bird in a cage was a metaphor for his marriage and a reflection of Cynthia’s inability to understand him. The songs working title was, ‘You don’t get me’. Secondly, it refers to the rivalry between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and although the two groups were friends, Lennon saw the Rolling Stones as copyists and the titular ‘bird’ being Marianne Faithful, an up and coming solo artist of the era and a friend of Mick Jagger. Thirdly it could have referred to the civil rights struggle as the Beatles produced several songs linked to this including ‘Blackbird’.

Quite fascinating, Spencer.

Excellent work Spencer and great background information.

So interesting and a lovely sweet painting.

Nicely done Spencer 🙂

Great theme and painting too.

Thank you all for your kind comments.

Thank you for that interesting information. Love your very creative painting Spencer.

Very interesting Spencer and a great image to go with the song.

Thank you for your lovely comments Carole and Christine. Much appreciated!

Interesting painting and thanks for the insight into it Spencer. I’ll now go and play it to see if I can make my own mind up.

Really good and interesting

Good stuff again Spencer. Your information is fascinating too

Thank you so much for your great comments Andrew, Heather and Martin. Glad you find the information useful. It gives you a chance to see the meaning behind the song lyrics and what led me to the design for the painting.

An interesting read, Spencer. Lennon was a brilliant writer, but seems he had a cynical personality. Your painting is very appealing with its clean and un-fussy presentation. Lovely work.

Well interpreted Spencer. I’m not familiar with the song but I find your explanations to the song titles you feature,fascinating……thank you.

Thank you so much Carol and Fiona for your lovely comments. There are almost 200 songs attributed to Lennon and McCartney. For this one I felt it had to focus on the caged clockwork bird and therefore I chose a minimalist background.

Another great addition to your Beatles themed paintings Spencer.

Interesting explanation and lovely painting

Thank you so much for your kind comments David and Romila.