Sir Paul McCartney is the latest Rock & Roll Hall of Famer to give Beyoncé the stamp of approval for covering one of their greatest hits.
Following Dolly Parton’s open support of the 32-time Grammy winner‘s take on “Jolene,” the beloved Beatles star took to social media to share praise for Beyoncé’s new rendition of “Blackbird” featured on her recently released “Cowboy Carter” opus.
“I am so happy with Beyoncé’s version of my song ‘Blackbird,’” he captioned an Instagram post Thursday of a snapshot of him and Queen Bey. “I think she does a magnificent version of it and it reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place.”
“When I saw the footage on the television in the early 60s of the Black girls being turned away from school, I found it shocking and I can’t believe that still in these days there are places where this kind of thing is happening right now,” McCartney continued. “Anything my song and Beyoncé’s fabulous version can do to ease racial tension would be a great thing and makes me very proud.”
The Fab Four member, himself a winner of 18 Grammys, also revealed he was in touch with the former Destiny’s Child frontwoman after giving her his blessing to revamp the song.
“I spoke to her on FaceTime and she thanked me for writing it and letting her do it,” the 81-year-old said. “I told her the pleasure was all mine and I thought she had done a killer version of the song.”
McCartney has a co-producer credit on the track, which also features vocals from four Black country singers — Reyna Roberts, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer and Tiera Kennedy.
According to Variety, portions of the master recording of the original “Blackbird” song, recorded for the Beatles’ 1968 “White Album,” were used in the new version.
