“White Bird” by It's a Beautiful Day

"White Bird" is a 1969 song by It's a Beautiful Day, the San Francisco group, written by David and Linda LaFlamme. Its roots are anything but sunny. In December 1967 manager Matthew Katz had parked the band in Seattle to sharpen their act, and they spent a grey, soaking winter in the attic of a Victorian house across from Volunteer Park, broke, hungry and stuck without a ride. LaFlamme later said they felt like caged birds, and the song is that longing to get out and fly.

He arranged and produced it himself and sings it as a duet with Pattie Santos, over Linda LaFlamme's organ, Hal Wagenet's guitar, Mitchell Holman's bass and Val Fuentes's drums. The trademark is LaFlamme's violin, overdubbed again and again until it soars like a flock.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.