Laura Erickson's For the Birds

This is Jim Baker. You know, when the Beatles Anthology came out a few years ago, I thought who the heck cares about four twerps from the past who didn’t know a hawk from a handsaw. I remember all the teen magazines back in the Sixties making a big thing about these guys from Liverpool calling girls and women “chicks” and “birds” like it was clever, when it was the stupidest thing I ever heard.

What word did they use for talking about real birds? Back in the Sixties I never noticed the Beatles’ song written by George Harrison called “Blue Jay Way.” Someone told me about it a couple of years ago and I thought finally, maybe there might be something that would redeem the group for me, but noooooo. The reason I never noticed the song when it came out was it stunk so bad that disc jockeys wouldn’t play it. It’s got stupid words, stupid music, and to top it off, it isn’t even about real Blue Jays! It’s just about some highway in California.

But last week, I found something that made me think maybe the Beatles really weren’t so bad. I was rummaging around my loft and came across a mysterious old tape. I don’t know where it came from. For all I know, a Blue Jay might have dropped it there.

Anyway, it made me start doing some research on that Paul McCartney song “Yesterday.” Believe it or not, he got the idea for the melody when he woke up one morning while they were filming Help with a lovely tune in his head mixed up with the words “scrambled eggs, oh, my baby, how I love your legs.”

Those words are even stupider than the insipid ones he finally came up with. But if this tape is authentic, the song had great lyrics, at least for a little while.

Yesterday all my Blue Jays seemed so far away.
Now it looks as though they’re here to stay.
Oh, I believe in Baker’s Blue Jay Blend.

Suddenly, I see twice the jays I used to see.
There’s a Gray Jay flying over me.
Oh, Baker’s Blend brought them suddenly.

Why they love it so, I don’t know. They wouldn’t say.
I fed them something wrong, then I longed to see Blue Jays.

Yesterday all my Blue Jays seemed so far away.
NowI need a place to hide away.
Oh, I believe in Baker’s Blue Jay Blend.

Why they love it so, I don’t know. They wouldn’t say.
I fed them something wrong, then I longed to see Blue Jays.

Yesterday all my Blue Jays seemed so far away.
NowI need a place to hide away.
Oh, I believe in Baker’s Blue Jay Blend.

I’m Jim Baker, and that song was definitely for the birds.