And Your Bird Can Sing - Remastered 2009

"Bird" is British slang for "Girl." One theory is that this song is a scolding by John Lennon of his buddy Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, who loved to brag about his bird - Marianne Faithfull - who was great, green (jealous/young) and could sing. John made it clear that Mick and the Stones wear great but could never ever match up to John and the other Beatles.

In the 2007 book Can't Buy Me Love, Jonathan Gould makes the case that the song was inspired by a profile of Frank Sinatra by Gay Talese that appeared in the April 1966 issue of Esquire magazine. "Bird," Talese wrote, "is a favorite Sinatra word. He often inquires of his cronies, 'How's your bird?'" What brought the article to Lennon's attention was a press release sent by Sinatra's PR man that read: "If you happen to be tired of kid singers wearing mops of hair thick enough to hide a crate of melons... 'Tell me that you've heard every sound there is,' crooned the world's greatest kid singer in his enigmatic reply, 'and your bird can swing. But you can't hear me. You can't hear me.'" The original 1966 article, titled "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold," can be read in Gay Talese's 2003 collection titled The Gay Talese Reader: Portraits and Encounters.

The signature dual-harmony electric lead guitar parts were played live (without overdubbing) by Harrison and McCartney. Lennon played the rhythm in the "D major" position with the capo on the second fret (to account for the song being in the key of E). John used the 2nd fret capo several times ("Nowhere Man," "Julia," "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" to name a few).