B-side "Wasted Union Blues" Recorded 1969 Length 3:02 | Released October 4, 1969 Genre Psychedelic rock | |
Format Vinyl record (7") 45 RPM | ||
"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).
Contents
Background and arrangement
"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.
Release and reception
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.
A nearly 10-minute-long version also appeared on the 1972 live album It's a Beautiful Day at Carnegie Hall. It later appeared on nine compilation albums and four more retrospective albums.
Legacy
The 1982 television series Knight Rider featured the song in an episode named for the song during the first season. The song was also used in the soundtrack of A Walk on the Moon, a 1999 American drama about a married woman's infidelity, including Woodstock Music Festival scenes.
In 2001 Vanessa-Mae released a version of the song that reached Number 66 on the UK Singles Chart. The song featured in the soundtrack of Uncharted Waters, the 2013 documentary about the life of surfer Wayne Lynch. The song was also used in Adult World, a 2013 American film comedy starring Emma Roberts, Evan Peters, and John Cusack. Recently, the song was used in the 2015 film Focus, starring Will Smith and Margot Robbie.
Patti Santos, who shared the lead vocal with David LaFlamme, died at age 40, in a 1989 automobile accident.