My Top 1000 Songs #745: And Your Bird Can Sing

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.] 

This is the third track off 1966's Revolver to make the list (fourth if you include the contemporaneous b-side "Rain"--referenced all the way back at the #1 spot when I started the reverse countdown--which I think you should). And it sorta makes sense, as Revolver is a helluva Beatles record (particularly the imaginary perfected version which includes the "Paperback Writer"/"Rain" single among its tracks). At the same time, it's a little unexpected, as I'm mostly a Sgt. Pepper through Abbey Road kinda guy, much less likely to be spotted spinning their earlier records.

Still, those later LPs work best for me as complete works, rather than collections of individual songs (even the scattered, messy White Album and the cobbled-together Magical Mystery Tour), making it harder for me to select specific stand-alone songs as personal favorites. Whereas Revolver is a sort of pivot point--yes, an indisputably great long-player taken as a whole, but still retaining the collection-of-great-songs vibe or their prior albums. And "And Your Bird Can Sing" is a particularly great stand-alone song, a rousing double-tracked Lennon guitar riff and some delightful harmonies. Maybe not quite at the "Rain" or "TNK" or "She Said, She Said" level, but cut from the same cloth. 

A giggly early version, with a different spin on those amazing harmonies.

Another of our countless visits to the tribute series from Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs:

Southern jangle poppers Guadalcanal Diary, slowing things down a bit:

The Jam:

A stumble around YouTube uncovers an unexpectedly clever reworking by Chicago band I Fight Dragons: