What were they really all singing about??

S

smiley

Senior Member
Location
Australia
Free as a bird

these guys once lived within walking distance of me - what do you think they are really singing about remembering the acrimony they went through towards the end ?
 

It started off with a bird freed from a cage, but still confined to a room, so he is still not really going anywhere. The music is rather like a dirge, and somewhere near the end was a cemetery, and the tombstone of Eleanor Rigby, who lived a life of loneliness and unfulfilled dreams.

The message I felt is that the singer is free of a relationship that didn't work, but is still not truly free, and doesn't know where to go from there.
 
thanks for that MT - that was part of it but it was about them all really - all their relationships had changed and freed them from commitments they no longer enjoyed - the intro of Yoko Ono had not helped at all- john brought her to the group practice sessions. I haven't spoken to them so we all make our own assumptions. but this to me is a rather happy song - can't remember who wrote it actually which might help.

but I read it as a song of happiness ; forgiveness to each other and a nod to the rest of us - the beatles are 'no more' we are off doing our own thing. We are all happy and free as birds and they were had already become so and took off in their own trajectories
 

smiley said:
thanks for that MT - that was part of it but it was about them all really - all their relationships had changed and freed them from commitments they no longer enjoyed - the intro of Yoko Ono had not helped at all- john brought her to the group practice sessions. I haven't spoken to them so we all make our own assumptions. but this to me is a rather happy song - can't remember who wrote it actually which might help.

but I read it as a song of happiness ; forgiveness to each other and a nod to the rest of us - the beatles are 'no more' we are off doing our own thing. We are all happy and free as birds and they were had already become so and took off in their own trajectories
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You thought it was a happy song. Okay, that's interesting; maybe it's supposed to be. I had never heard it before. I think it was when I saw the Eleanor Rigby tombstone that made think there was sadness.
 
That Lady in PA said:
Free as a Bird - Wikipedia
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thanks for that Lady in PA - that was very interesting to read and very emotional. the beatles like "brothers" anywhere went through some good/bad times highs and lows but they were at the time a phenomena as demonstrated at that large stadium presentation where they couldn't hear their own singing for the screaming. they went through growth and doubts and wanting their own individual independence

yoko had once been highly disliked by the others but grew old with them too and reconciled much as did her son and johns son. Know one will really know why John wrote it in this way - I simple contribute as a fellow Liverpudlian and put my own slant on it. But they had all become free - freed themselves from each other which of course had to happen - they all took off and did their own things - I think this was a sorta eulogy - a nod to each other that everything is now fine and we were once good mates??
 
MACKTEXAS said:
You thought it was a happy song. Okay, that's interesting; maybe it's supposed to be. I had never heard it before. I think it was when I saw the Eleanor Rigby tombstone that made think there was sadness.
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yes I still do but when relationships change there is sometimes happiness and sadness they can go together? - I followed them from day one and live down the road from them ; breathed the same Liverpool air - I might have caught something?
 
What were they really singing about??

How about that old Wrigley Spearment Gum jingle...

🎶 Take a sniff, pull it out...the taste is going to move you when you pop it in your mouth! 🎵Conan-OBrien-Pencil-Tap-Facepalm-Reaction-To-The-News.gif
 
smiley said:
yes I still do but when relationships change there is sometimes happiness and sadness they can go together? - I followed them from day one and live down the road from them ; breathed the same Liverpool air - I might have caught something?
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I like both happy and sad songs, and often listen to either, depending on the mood I in at the time. If I listened to the song more, it might grow on me. :)
 
MACKTEXAS said:
You thought it was a happy song. Okay, that's interesting; maybe it's supposed to be. I had never heard it before. I think it was when I saw the Eleanor Rigby tombstone that made think there was sadness.
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happiness and sadness can sometimes go together - they are not mutually exclusive? but thanks for widening the discussion that was very useful - didn't want to do it alone!
 
Goes to show even a good thing like flying in the great wild outdoors can become a prison when all
you really want is to get back in.
 
The Beatles were a great sounding band. They owned the "Top 40". But they weren't the world's greatest lyricists. Nobody is going to confuse Shakespeare's "Romeo, Romeo, where forth art thou?" with "I am the walrus". It's hard to decipher their songs at times. They used a lot local references.
 
yes all of those - they had reached the point when they could no longer work together - they were 'pissing' each other off and yet paradoxically they still cared for each other - just couldn't show it. This song for me shows their re-entry into their own worlds and new adventures with their own lives and own bands - thus the title line ............free as a bird. that is exactly how they felt - I was there and I felt it too!
 

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