Beyoncé sampled Blackbird by The Beatles

Beyoncé new album "Cowboy Carter" features a cover version of The Beatles' classic "Blackbird", but there is something VERY familar about this cover...

[blue-csfk]

My brain glitched for a second when you said "this is blackbird" and it just went "no that's Paul McCartney"

[GizzyDillespee]

When you sample the entire song, minus the vocals, and then sing over the top, that's called "karaoke", which was pioneered in Japan.

[BenjaminEarlMusic]

Just wanted to add that the reason people don't typically use the original performance for a cover is because it's infinitely more complex and expensive to license the-original- than it is to just recreate it.

[monovision]

50 years have proven that no one can play it just like Paul anyway. Why even bother putting a studio guitarist through that? Just sample the good stuff.

[bentownsend]

You are all complaining about a "lack of effort". All I see is a tribute with a lot of respect for the original track. Of course she's not making money, that will go to Paul.

I guarantee if the song was altered at all, in the more creative cover you're asking for, you'd get mad at her for "butchering" a classic song.

Get over yourselves and stop finding excuses to hate on her.

[cnwd]

I like how this album sounds slightly different from contemporary 2020s country music because its influences are mostly from 50s/60s tunes

[royalex]

Oh man I noticed this when I heard it for the first time! I honestly can’t tell if it’s clever or cheap.

[SStone-dmes]

So many here trying to break Beyoncé’s wings. Looks like Paul was making a great point almost 60 years ago. Fly Beyoncé, fly!

[PlanetoftheDeaf]

Paul is happy with this, though as it's a Beatles production rather than a solo McCartney production, I wonder what other permissions Beyonce needed?

[skillracoonful]

Wouldn’t call that a sample since she got a hold of the master tape.

[joshuaizly]

I mean we are all here talking about it, so it is sure an interesting choice. Probably isn't cheap since it's the Beatles.

[Maria-blfp]

Paul McCartney spoke about the meaning behind the song and it fits so well in the context of Beyoncé’s album and the message she’s sending with the album. So legendary that she got his stamp of approval too!! She’s so talented!

[misterflibble]

IMO ideally when you do a cover you try and "make the song your own" by adding your interpretations to the song, this is just karaoke

[puzzud]

I know Paul and Beyonce are friends. But I have no desire to listen to this version. I would have rather heard Beyonce and her studio perform their own version. This feels like going to a play and they have the movie version playing behind some of the live performers. I realize this exposes new listeners to the Beatles and, let's be real, McCartney's grandchildren need that to happen. I remember growing up when Guns n Roses did Live and Let Die. G&R fans loved it--the best song yet! Even Trent Reznor has said that Hurt is essentially Johnny Cash's song now. I guess that's how it works. Someone in 100 years is going to cover Babe I'm Gonna Leave You and say it wasn't written by Page & Plant! ;)

[cameronbaydock]

Well she herself spent an hour in a booth singing the vocal. A team of producers decided to sample and market the original Blackbird

[ripmurdock]

Is sampling even the right word for this? Sample implies a piece, a morsel, a bar or two, a vocal snippet... singing over the original masters, she didn't take a sample of Blackbird. Weird one for me. Miss.

[turnerIott]

Where is the line drawn between a cover and karaoke? It feels like if you just replace the vocals and nothing else, you’re not really covering the song.

[Maria-blfp]

Everyone saying “so it’s just kareoke” thinks they’re original lol there are 20 comments all saying the same thing. Paul McCartney gave his approval and complimented Beyonce’s cover of this. It fits perfectly into her album since the song is about Black women from the south during the civil rights movement.

[anyoneelsebutme]

I can't tell if people here don't like it because it's a bad cover or if people wanna be so different by hating on someone so popular.

There are so many covers which are just note-for-note, layer-for-layer the exact same as the original yet don't get as much hate.

[candacewalker]

I love this version and they way that she featured many Black female country artist on it is beautiful. Paul loves it as well so if you get his approval and he is the original artist then that's all that matters.