It's a Beautiful Day: White Bird (1969)

It's a Beautiful Day is the 1969 self-titled debut album by San Francisco psychedelic band It's a Beautiful Day. Although they were one of the earliest and most important San Francisco bands to emerge from 1967's social phenomenon Summer of Love, the band never quite achieved the success of contemporaries such as Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Santana, with whom they had connections. This album's song "White Bird" was the band's biggest hit.

The group's signature song "White Bird" was inspired by the experiences David and Linda LaFlamme had while living in Seattle, Washington. For a few weeks in December 1967 the group members lived in the attic of an old house while playing and rehearsing at Seattle's Encore Ballroom. In an ironic twist on the band's name, the song was partly inspired by Seattle's rainy winter weather. The band's manager Matthew Katz had relegated the band to improve their act before he would book them into San Francisco nightclubs.

In a later interview David 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's repeated chorus is, "White bird must fly or she will die."

By North Utsire