"Snowbird" is a song by the Canadian lyricist

Gene MacLellan Gene MacLellan (February 2, 1938 – January 19, 1995) was a Canadian singer-songwriter from Prince Edward Island. Among his compositions were " Snowbird", made famous by Anne Murray, "Put Your Hand in the Hand", " The Call", "Pages of Time ...

. Though it has been recorded by many performers, it is best known through

Anne Murray Morna Anne Murray (born June 20, 1945) is a retired Canadian singer. Her albums, consisting primarily of pop, country, and adult contemporary music, have sold over 55 million copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray was the fir ...

's 1969 recording, which—after appearing as an album track in mid-1969—was released as a single in mid-1970. It was a No. 2 hit on Canada's pop chart and went to No. 1 on both the Canadian adult contemporary and country charts. The song reached No. 8 on the U.S.

pop singles chart The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming in ...

, spent six weeks at No. 1 on the U.S.

adult contemporary chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by sta ...

, and became a surprise Top 10 U.S. country hit as well. It was certified as a gold single by the RIAA, the first American Gold record ever awarded to a Canadian solo female artist. The song peaked at No. 23 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. In 2003 it was an inaugural song inductee of the

Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (''Panthéon des Auteurs et Compositeurs canadiens'') is a Canadian non-profit organization, founded in 1998 by Frank Davies, that inducts Canadians into their ''Hall of Fame'' within three different categori ...

. Anne Murray and Gene MacLellan had met while both were regulars on the

CBC television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

series ''

Singalong Jubilee ''Singalong Jubilee'' was a CBC Television programme produced between 1961 and 1974. It featured musical performances by local singers, playing folk, country, and gospel music, in studio on stage and on location. Anne Murray, Catherine McKinnon, K ...

'' and Murray recorded two of MacLellan's compositions, "Snowbird" and "Biding My Time", for her first major label album release, ''This Way Is My Way'', in 1969. Murray would recall: "Gene told me he wrote Snowbird"in twenty minutes while walking on a beach on

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...

." "Snowbird" sold well over a million copies and was picked as 19th on the '' 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version'' list, a partially populist approach to defining the most influential songs by Canadians.

Chart performance

Weekly singles charts

Year-end charts

Notable versions

's own recording of "Snowbird" on his 1970 album ''Street Corner Preacher'' features an additional verse to the song's standard two verse format. *In 2007, Murray remade "Snowbird" for her '' Anne Murray Duets: Friends & Legends'' album; the song being rendered as a duet with Sarah Brightman. *1970:

Liv Maessen Liv Maessen is an Australian pop singer who had hits in the early 1970s with " The Love Moth", " Knock, Knock Who's There?" and " Snowbird". In 1969, Maessen had finished second in the ''New Faces'' talent show. Her prize included a recording c ...

(No. 13 in Australia) *1971:

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music ...

- album '' For the Good Times'' winner of

Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance The Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by m ...

In popular culture

*Murray performed the song on episode 4.15 of ''

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as a s ...

'', in which she kept getting interrupted by a badly punning dodo. *In the ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...

'' episode "

Chris Cross Chris Cross (born Christopher Thomas Allen, 14 July 1952, Tottenham, London) is an English musician, best known as the bass guitarist in the new wave band Ultravox. Biography Early years Cross went to Belmont Secondary Modern School, ...

", Brian and Stewie spend the third act arguing about the meaning of the song. When they travel to Canada to meet Murray in an attempt to ascertain its true meaning, Stewie becomes upset when he learns she did not write the song and holds Murray hostage. *

D-TV ''D-TV'' was a series of music videos created by The Walt Disney Company and produced by Charles Braverman and edited by Ted Herrmann which premiered on May 5, 1984, by taking hit songs of the past and putting them together with various footage of ...

set the song to the ''

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest ...

'' short, "Cold Storage".

References

External links

Dennis Walks' reggae version of this song on Discogs
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Snowbird (song) 1970 singles Songs written by Gene MacLellan Anne Murray songs Andy Williams songs Juno Award for Single of the Year singles Capitol Records singles Canadian soft rock songs Songs about birds Song recordings produced by Brian Ahern (producer) 1969 songs