Tuesday Tunes 175: Birds

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I have on several occasions themed these posts around nature and the elements, but though songs about them have been included I’ve not yet done one just for the birds, so it feels about time that I should. Today I’m giving you a selection that includes just one with the actual word birds in its title, but the others are all about types of bird or, in one case, one of their features being used as a metaphor.

After I decided on the set list I realised that two of these go back to the Sixties, with another being a near miss. Why not – it is still my favourite musical period, when everything was new and exciting. Let’s get started with a UK smash hit:

Manfred Mann released Pretty Flamingo as a single in April 1966, and it spent three weeks here at #1. It only reached #29 in the US, though, although the band were far from unknown there, having topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic with Doo Wah Diddy in 1964. There was however a US album that had this as its title track – we didn’t get that one here and it didn’t make the US chart. I recall being told at the time that ‘flamingo’ was a US slang word for a hooker, but I was never really sure if that was true! The song has been covered several times on record, by Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Everly Brothers and Gene Pitney at that time, and later by Rod Stewart. It has also been played in concert by, among others, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello, so it clearly gets around. Maybe that slang was right after all…

Those of you who are longer time readers of this blog, and who have good memories, may recall the delightful song by Mindy Smith that I play each Christmas Eve (it’s coming again soon, folks!). Mindy has recently returned to recording and live performance after a quiet spell, and released this one last Friday:

And before anyone tells me that there is a song called Little Wing with two well known versions – maybe in a second set if I do one! I think this beautiful song speaks to feelings we have all had at one time or another in our lives, and I sense that it may be autobiographical, too. Mindy has released Little Wings as a single, but I follow her on Facebook and the signs are there that she is planning a new album soon: long overdue for those of us who love her beautiful voice. If it happens, you may well be hearing some of it here!

From a singer-songwriter who may well be new to many of you, I’m turning next to a band of whom you might just have heard, with a song which is a kind of companion piece for the previous one:

The Beatles with Blackbird, from the album simply called The Beatles, though it is widely known as The White Album.  The image in the video is taken from a later remaster, but the original sleeve was plain white, with the title The Beatles embossed on the lower right front corner – I remember my copy well! The album was released in November 1968 and, of course, went to #1 just about everywhere and has sold more than 17m copies worldwide. It was an ambitious double album, with the band taking in a huge range of musical styles, and was very much their magnum opus. I asked for it as a Christmas present that year and Santa kindly delivered: I spent most of the time listening to it and have loved it ever since.

I’ve played this next one before in this series, but as that was two and a half years ago I think it bears a repeat:

That newish official video was released in April 2020 but the song of course goes back much further. You can’t keep a good song down, and this is absolutely charming: such a good accompaniment to a simple, but very uplifting, little song. Three Little Birds was originally released on Bob Marley’s 1977 album Exodus, which reached #8 here, #20 in the US, and was #1 in his Jamaican homeland. It was also a single here in the UK, released in September 1980, and peaked at #17. If you are ever in need of brightening up your day, this video will do it for you. It has accumulated more than 82m YouTube views in the past four years, and that many people just must be right!

Today’s final tune narrowly missed being another from the Sixties: it dates back to 1970. A classic pop hit for me:

T Rex originally began as Tyrannosaurus Rex, playing a brand of folk rock music heavily imbued with mystical elements. They built a strong following across several albums and singles, and then shortened their name, releasing Ride A White Swan as a single in October 1970. Some of their followers saw this a sellout, others – like me – loved it and saw it as a natural progression, though I don’t think I’d seen the transformation into glam rock coming! It reached #2 in the UK and even got to #76 in the US, where they were generally far less successful. It began a fantastic run of hit singles for Marc Bolan and his band here in the UK: over the next two years they enjoyed four #1s and four #2s in our singles charts, and also managed a #1 and three other top ten entries in our album charts. They enjoyed a good deal of success across Europe, too, and even made the US Albums chart on several occasions. They were different and exciting, and isn’t that what pop music is all about?

That’s all for today, but there are loads of other birds songs out there so I may come back to this. And by all means suggest your favourites – you never know, I might actually play some of them! Enjoy your week and take care – it’s wet and windy out there! 💧💨

73 thoughts on “Tuesday Tunes 175: Birds”

  2. More great songs! Enjoyed them and especially liked the Mindy Smith one with the ocean video and the Bob Marley video. LOL! How can one not smile at while listening to the happy song and watching the video.

    Changing the subject, but how did you do in Wordle yesterday? I lost my streak and got Wordled!

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  3. I have a problem. I was in the process of featuring “Look Through Any Window” by the Hollies to begin a new theme for music posts when I checked out your post here. Ack. The video I had selected for my post is the same video you selected for the Manfred Mann song, which just happens to be my favourite song of theirs. Now I am left wondering, how many other songs are being played to the same video montage? Someone is very lazy, or they love this video. I will be finding a new one. No repeats allowed. Here is the offending evidence…

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  6. Okay, so I smiled at “Pretty Flamingo” … if it was slang for ‘hooker’ over here, this is the first I’ve heard of it! And then I absolutely loved Mindy Smith’s “Little Wings”. But then … THEN came one of my all-time favourites, “Blackbird”, and I was hooked!!! Fun music post, and you’ve once again broadened my horizons, for I didn’t know the other two, but I loved the Three Little Birds video! Thanks, Clive!

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  7. Mindy Smith and T-Rex were new ones for me. Most weeks I choose a favorite tune, but nothing stands head and shoulders above the rest for me this week.

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  9. I’d not heard the Bob Marley one in a long while, nice to hear, but all good tunes.
    An infectiously good bird song you may not have had released over there is Aussie band Daddy Cool ‘Eagle Rock.’

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  10. I’ve heard a flamingo placed outside a house or hotel room means the occupants are swingers, but there’s another definition that has nothing to do with hookers. You might be thinking of Pink Flamingo but there’s no way I’m going to tell you here (or anywhere, for that matter) what *that* means. That’s why God created Google. 😂😂🦩

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  17. “Surfin’ Bird” by The Trashmen
    “The Bronx Bird Watcher” by Allan Sherman
    “Fly Like An Eagle” by Steve Miller
    “Free Bird” (of course) by Lynyrd Skynyrd
    “Hummingbird” by Seals & Crofts
    “Bluebird” by Buffalo Springfield
    “Little Red Rooster” by Howlin’ Wolf and others
    “Rockin’ Robin” by Bobby Day
    “When The Red Red Robin Comes Bob-bob-bobbin’ Along” by Al Jolson, Bing Crosby and others
    And the list goes on and on …

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