"White Bird" was written in December 1967, in Seattle, Washington. Manager Matthew Katz had moved the band there to polish their act at a Seattle venue before booking them into San Francisco nightclubs. Living in the attic of a Victorian house across the street from Volunteer Park, the band had inadequate food and no transportation during a dreary Seattle winter. The song evolved from the depression of the band's circumstances and yearning to be free. The song's repeated chorus is, "White bird must fly or she will die." In a later interview, LaFlamme said:
Where the 'white bird' thing came from... We were like caged birds in that attic. We had no money, no transportation, the weather was miserable. We were just barely getting by on a very small food allowance provided to us. It was quite an experience, but it was very creative in a way.
The song was arranged and produced by LaFlamme and sung as a duet between him and group member Patti Santos. A prominent stylistic feature of the song's original arrangement are multiple violin parts overdubbed by LaFlamme.
Release and reception
It was first released on the band's 1969 eponymous debut albumIt's a Beautiful Day by Columbia Records. The song quickly became the band's signature tune and a staple of FMAlbum-oriented rock radio. The album rose to Number 47 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Following the popularity of the album track, a single version was edited and remixed for radio play, with a running time of 3:02, and released on October 4, 1969. It rose to as high as Number 3 the week of October 18, 1969 on San Francisco radio station KYA. The single never reached a wide national audience and only made it to Number 118 on Billboard'sBubbling Under the Hot 100 chart. Adult Contemporary No. 10 A nearly 10-minute-long version also appeared on the 1972 live albumIt's a Beautiful Day at Carnegie Hall. It later appeared on nine compilation albums and four more retrospective albums.
Legacy
The song "White Bird" is featured in the first season of Knight Rider in the episode of the same name. The song also featured in two further episodes of Knight Rider: "Let it Be Me" and "The Scent of Roses". In all three episodes, it represented the love theme between the characters of Michael Knight and Stephanie 'Stevie' Mason. The song was also used in the soundtrack of A Walk on the Moon, a 1999 American drama about a married woman's infidelity, including Woodstock Music Festival scenes. A version of "White Bird" by violinist Vanessa-Mae was released in 2001, and reached number 66 in the UK Singles Chart. Sam Bush covered the song on his 2006 Laps in Seven album. The song was also used in Adult World, a 2013 American film comedy starring Emma Roberts, Evan Peters, and John Cusack. The song was used in the 2015 film Focus, starring Will Smith and Margot Robbie, and in 2017, the premiere PBS-TV episode of Prime Suspect: Tennison.
