Blackbird Singing: Poems and Lyrics 1965-1999.

First edition of the first published collection of the poems and lyrics of Paul McCartney, one of the most-admired and influential lyricists of the twentieth century. Octavo, original half cloth, patterned endpapers, titles in black and red. Edited by Adrian Mitchell. Association copy, inscribed by Paul McCartney on the half-title page to Judy Collins, "To Judy, with love Paul McCartney xx" and with Collins' ownership signature below. The recipient, Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter and social activist Judy Collins, signed with Elektra Records in the early 1960s, largely recording folk and protest songs and often covering Beatles tunes including "Norwegian Wood" and "In My Life", which she would often close her concerts with. It was at this time that she met and became close friends with Linda Louise Eastman, who had recently met Paul McCartney and would soon marry him. Linda often turned to Collins for advice on her relationship with McCartney, as he was pursued by so many women. Collins experienced the biggest success of her career with her recording of Stephen Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns" from her best-selling 1975 album Judith. The single charted on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in 1975 and then again in 1977, spending 27 non-consecutive weeks on the chart and earning Collins a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, as well as a Grammy Award for Sondheim for Song of the Year. In 2007, Collins released "Judy Collins Sings Lennon and McCartney" which she dedicated to Paul and Linda, who died in April, 1998, after battling breast cancer. Fine in a fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Debra Morton Hoyt. Blackbird illustration by Paul McCartney. Jacket photograph (back panel) by Claude Gassain. Jacket photograph (spine) by Mary McCartney. An exceptional association, linking two of the twentieth century's greatest singer-songwriters.