"White Bird" | ||||
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![]() Original 1969 single cover
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Single by It's a Beautiful Day | ||||
from the album It's a Beautiful Day | ||||
B-side | "Wasted Union Blues" | |||
Released | October 4, 1969 | |||
Format | 45-rpm record | |||
Recorded | 1969 | |||
Genre | Psychedelic rock | |||
Length | 3:02 | |||
Label | Columbia (4-44928) | |||
Songwriter(s) | David LaFlamme, Linda LaFlamme | |||
Producer(s) | Matthew Katz, David LaFlamme | |||
It's a Beautiful Day singles chronology | ||||
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Audio sample | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"White Bird" (live) on YouTube |
"White Bird" is a 1969 song by San Francisco rock group It's a Beautiful Day, written by David LaFlamme and his then wife Linda LaFlamme (née Neska).
"White Bird" was written in December 1967, in Seattle, Washington. Manager Matthew Katz had moved the band there to polish their act at a small Seattle ballroom before booking them into San Francisco nightclubs. Living in the attic of a Victorian house across the street from Volunteer Park, the band had inadequate food and no transportation during a dreary Seattle winter. The song evolved from the depression of the band's circumstances and yearning to be free. The song's repeated chorus is, "White bird must fly or she will die."
In a later interview, LaFlamme said:
Where the 'white bird' thing came from ... We were like caged birds in that attic. We had no money, no transportation, the weather was miserable. We were just barely getting by on a very small food allowance provided to us. It was quite an experience, but it was very creative in a way.
The song was arranged and produced by LaFlamme and sung as a duet between him and group member Patti Santos. A prominent stylistic feature of the song's original arrangement are multiple violin parts overdubbed by LaFlamme.
It was first released on the band's 1969 eponymous debut album It's a Beautiful Day by Columbia Records.
The song quickly became the band's signature tune and a staple of FM Album-oriented rock radio. The album rose to Number 47 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Following the popularity of the album track a single version was edited and remixed for radio play, with a running time of 3:02, and released on October 4, 1969. It rose to as high as Number 3 the week of October 18, 1969 on San Francisco radio station KYA. The single never reached a wide national audience and only made it to Number 118 on Billboard's Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart.