Mama Blackbird

Enough with the doom and gloom for a minute; let’s have some fun.

A couple years ago my town seemed to have cornered the market on the blackbird population. They were thick as thieves! They were everywhere! And they were funny little muses for me. I wrote two blackbird songs, one because there was a “Blackbird sittin’ on the highest branch of the tallest tree on the hill,” which became The Blackbird Song. But Michael and I noted on our daily walks that we only saw the males, never the females, and so we did some research.

Female blackbirds have gray and brown mottled feathers, and build their nests low down to the ground in brush or in bushes. Fascinating fact: it takes two weeks to build a nest, two weeks to incubate eggs, and two weeks to raise the young, and then … they start completely over again with a new nest. According the Audubon Society, they almost never reuse a nest that has served its purpose, but instead prefer to start over. Male blackbirds look for the highest territory they can find to make themselves look big and strong in order to attract the largest number of females they can; again according to Audubon, one male blackbird studied attracted sixteen mates in a single season. Uffda. These are not, as you might suppose, deadbeat dads, though. They help with nest-building, they gather food for the females while they incubate the eggs, and help to feed the hatchlings. Go blackbird dads! But sixteen mates seems like a challenge.

But all of this information, as it does, started percolating in my mind, and eventually it turned into this fun little tune with a very modal Appalachian feel. Enjoy!

Mama Blackbird, singin’ in a tree
I can’t see her but she sees me
Oh-ka-lee, oh-ka-lay, oh-ka-lo
Feathers mottled gray and brown
Invisible to the world around 
Oh-ka-lee, oh-ka-lay, oh-ka-lo

Chorus
But still you sing your pretty song
And you sing it mighty fine
You teach it to your babies
And they’ll sing it to mine
Oh-ka-lee, oh-ka-lay, oh-ka-lo

Daddy Blackbird out runnin’ around
Chasin’ anything in gray and brown
Oh-ka-lee, oh-ka-lay, oh-ka-lo
Mamas just want the simple life
Daddy Redwing got him 16 wives
Oh-ka-lee, oh-ka-lay, oh-ka-lo

Blackbird babies grow so fast
Two weeks raised and they’re out of the nest
Oh-ka-lee, oh-ka-lay, oh-ka-lo
Mama Blackbird one day you’ll be free
To dance and sing around the hazel tree
Oh-ka-lee, oh-ka-lay, oh-ka-lo