Lyr Req: Red-Winged Blackbird (Billy Edd Wheeler)

Subject: Redwing blackbird
From: Stewie
Date: 27 Nov 01 - 07:34 PM

Can someone post the lyrics to Billy Edd Wheeler's 'Redwing Blackbird'. I can't find them in DT or forum, nor elsewhere on the net. Thanks.

--Stewie.

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Search for "blackbird" threads

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Redwing blackbird
From: DebC
Date: 27 Nov 01 - 07:39 PM

Hi Stewie,

I tried to send you a PM, but I guess you are cookie-less.

Due to copyright restrictions, I am uncomfortable with posting lyrics that are not public domain in a public forum.

Send me a PM with your email address and I will be very happy to email them to you.

Deb

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Redwing blackbird
From: Stewie
Date: 27 Nov 01 - 08:06 PM

Thanks, Deb. I don't know why your PM didn't succeed; my cookie seems to be okay. I will PM you with my email address.

--Stewie.

Subject: Lyr Add: RED WINGED BLACKBIRD (David Francey)
From: John Nolan
Date: 27 Nov 01 - 11:35 PM

I wonder if it is the Redwing Blackbird written by one of the very best song writers around - David Francey out of Ayer's Cliff, Quebec. Check his site at davidfrancey.com - it has many of the lyrics from his two great CDs.

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RED WINGED BLACKBIRD
(David Francey)

Thought I heard a red winged blackbird,
Red winged blackbird down my road,
Thought I heard a red winged blackbird,
Red winged blackbird down my road.

He'll be there beside the river,
When Winter finally breaks its bones,
He'll be king among the rushes,
He'll be master of his home.

Thought I heard a red winged blackbird,
Red winged blackbird down my road.
Thought I heard a red winged blackbird,
Red winged blackbird down my road.


Safe as Moses in the rushes,
Builds his home on the river wide,
Every time I hear him singing,
Makes me feel like Spring inside.

Thought I heard a red winged blackbird,
Red winged blackbird down my road.
Thought I heard a red winged blackbird,
Red winged black bird down my road.


He'll be in there singing his heart out,
He'll be telling me stories too,
Of where he went to winter last year,
Of how he's going back there too.

Thought I heard a red winged blackbird,
Red winged blackbird down my road,
Thought I heard a red winged blackbird,
Red winged blackbird down my road.

Words and Music: ©David Francey (1989)

I just copied them from David's site. But check him out, anway. He is the most underrated songwriter in America.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Redwing blackbird
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 27 Nov 01 - 11:58 PM

Wrong bird. Billy Edd Wheeler's is

Oh don't you see that pretty little bird
singing with all his heart and soul?
He's got a blood red spot on his wing
and all the rest of him's black as coal.

Beautiful and brief (3 verse) song on the topic of the sorrows of being a miner's wife. Find it if you haven't heard it. (Judy Collins did it, among others.) But I'll refrain on the rest of the lyrics on Deb's point and since she's getting them direct to Stewie.

Nice info about Billy Edd Wheeler and some song lyric links (but not for this one) here.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Redwing blackbird
From: Stewie
Date: 28 Nov 01 - 12:48 AM

John, thanks for taking the trouble. It is not the one I am after, but looks like a good one. I was not aware of David Francey, but I'll give him a listen if the opportunity arises.

Becky, that is indeed the one. Thanks for the link. It would be interesting to hear the Monitor material. I have a couple of his Kapp LPs and 'Wild Mountain Flowers' on Flying Fish [FF-085]. It is a pity nothing of his appears to have made it to CD.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Redwing blackbird
From: GUEST,Rana
Date: 29 Nov 01 - 12:14 AM

As John Nolan pointed out David Francey's site (www.davidfrancey.com) has many lyrics, however it also has Red Wing Blackbird and Paper Boy (from his latest CD) as MP# and Real Audio. David is one of the best artists I've seen in a longtime - James Keelaghan has said he his the best Canadian Singer songwriter in the last 20 years (though his boyhood Scottish accent still comes through).

Cheers Rana

Subject: Lyr Add: RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD (Billy Ed Wheeler)
From: rich-joy
Date: 28 Jun 02 - 09:31 AM

RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD
(Billy Ed Wheeler)


Oh, can't you see that pretty little bird
Singin' with all his heart and soul
He's got a blood-red spot on his wing
And all of the rest of him's black as coal.


Of all the colours I ever did see
Red and black are the ones I dread
For when a man spills blood on the coal
They carry him down from the coal mines dead.


Oh, fly away you red-winged bird
Leave behind the miner's wife
She'll dream about you when you're gone
She'll dream about you all her life.


Oh, can't you see that pretty little bird
Singin' with all his heart and soul
He's got a blood-red spot on his wing
And all of the rest of him's black as coal.


Cheers! RJB
(found it mentioned in a number of threads, but strangely, none where the lyrics were added ...)

Subject: RE: Req: Redwing Blackbird / Red-Winged Blackbird
From: rich-joy
Date: 29 Jun 02 - 02:11 AM

Thanks for the thread-sorting, chaps!!

Also, I'd meant to add a thank you to STEWIE, from whom I got the lyrics!!! (and apologies for forgetting that second "d" in "Edd")

Cheers! R-J

Subject: Lyr Req: red winged bird by Billy Edd Wheeler
From: Joy Bennett
Date: 07 Aug 03 - 12:04 AM

have been told there are many verses to this song -- I have only 3 -- help!!

o can't you see that pretty little bird
singing with all his heart and soul
he's got a blood-red spot on his wing
and all the rest of him's black as coal

fly away you red-winged bird
leave behind a miner's wife
she'll dream about you when you;re gone
she'll dream about you all her life

of all the colors that ever I saw
red and black are the ones i dread
for when a man spills blood on the coal
they carry him down to the coal mines dead

any help is appreciated - thanks

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: red winged bird by Billy Edd Wheeler
From: Allan C.
Date: 07 Aug 03 - 12:16 AM

Nope, I'm pretty sure that's all he wrote. However, I believe you may have the 2nd and 3rd verses reversed.

Subject: RE: Req: Redwing Blackbird / Red-Winged Blackbird
From: black walnut
Date: 16 Dec 06 - 11:03 AM

Going back to the David Francey version...he's going to sing harmony on his Red-Winged Blackbird with me on my new children's CD -"Simply Beautiful". We'll be into the studio this week. Quite exciting.

~b.w.

Subject: RE: Req: Red-Winged/Redwing Blackbird (Wheeler)
From: black walnut
Date: 19 Dec 06 - 09:32 PM

Done today! What fun!

~b.w.

Subject: RE: Req: Red-Winged/Redwing Blackbird (Wheeler)
From: leeneia
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 11:31 AM

I'm intrigued by the references to David Francey and I like his song about the red-winged blackbird. But what's his voice like? Is it pleasant to listen to?

(If I were trying to sell CD's on the Internet, I would offer the public a sample.)

Subject: RE: Req: Red-Winged/Redwing Blackbird (Wheeler)
From: black walnut
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 12:49 PM

When I want to 'sample' a performer I usually head to their website. David's is www.davidfrancey.com, and he has soundbites.

I can tell you first hand that he captivates his audiences with his storytelling, his songs, his lovely slightly Scottish accent, his warm voice and his genuinely generous and sweet personality.


Hope that helps!

~b.w.

Subject: RE: Req: Red-Winged/Redwing Blackbird (Wheeler)
From: black walnut
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 12:57 PM

Oops, sorry...I forgot to make the 'blue clickie':

DAVID FRANCEY

~b.w.

Subject: RE: Req: Red-Winged/Redwing Blackbird (Wheeler)
From: leeneia
Date: 20 Dec 06 - 06:15 PM

Been there twice, haven't found any sound bites yet.

Subject: RE: Req: Red-Winged/Redwing Blackbird (Wheeler)
From: black walnut
Date: 21 Dec 06 - 09:08 AM

Go to the Albums page on David's website. There are 6 soundbites there. Click here to go the Albums page right away. Red-winged blackbird is one of the sound samples. Ashtabula is one of my favourites, too.

Hope that helps!

~b.w.

Subject: RE: Req: Red-Winged/Redwing Blackbird (Wheeler)
From: leeneia
Date: 21 Dec 06 - 05:37 PM

It did help, thanks. Now I know that I've heard that Red-winged blackbird song before.

cong-a-REEE!

Subject: RE: Req: Red-Winged/Redwing Blackbird (Wheeler)
From: black walnut
Date: 22 Dec 06 - 08:40 AM

Bravo!
~b.w.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red-Winged Blackbird (Billy Edd Wheeler)
From: black walnut
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 02:12 PM

I recorded David Francey's Red-Winged Blackbird on my children's CD 'Simply Beautiful', with David singing harmony. Peter Tongni played the cut on his CBC radio show 'Weekender' last Saturday morning. What a high!

~b.w.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red-Winged Blackbird (Billy Edd Wheeler)
From:
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 03:10 PM

That's cool, Black Walnut!!! Wish I had known. I would have taped that show, as I don't listen to Radio Two often.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red-Winged Blackbird (Billy Edd Wheeler)
From: black walnut
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 04:51 PM

I wish I'd have known too! I was out of town doing some concerts. When I got home, my next door neighbour told me she'd heard it on the Togni show. I chedked the playlists, and there it was! Apparently he said something about the song being a 'Canadian classic' now. :-)

~b.w.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red-Winged Blackbird (Billy Edd Wheeler)
From: GUEST,nelson
Date: 18 Oct 09 - 02:34 PM

has anyone worked out the chords.... kathy mattea does a wonderful version of this song.....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Red-Winged Blackbird (Billy Edd Wheeler)
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 18 Oct 09 - 03:32 PM

Chords?? I can't imagine it any way other than unaccompanied.

(Except once I heard it sung against "Cluck Old Hen" on the banjo and it worked, to my surprise.)

~ Becky in Long Beach this week