"Snowbird" is a song written by Canadian singer-songwriter Gene MacLellan. 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 country, pop and adult contemporary music singer who has sold over 55 million album copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray has won four Grammys including the Grammy ...

's 1969 recording, which—after appearing as an album track in mid-1969—was released as a single in mid-1970. The song 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, spent six weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. adult contemporary chart, and became a surprise Top 10 U.S. country hit as well. It was certified as a gold single by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

, the first American Gold record ever awarded to a Canadian solo female artist. It peaked at No. 23 on the UK Singles Chart. In 2003 it was an inaugural song inductee of the

Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame () is a Canadian non-profit organization, founded in 1998 by Frank Davies, that inducts Canadians into their ''Hall of Fame'' within three different categories: songwriters, songs, and those others who have m ...

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

CBC television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

series '' Singalong Jubilee'' 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 is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

." "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

References

External links

Dennis Walks' reggae version of this song on Discogs
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Snowbird (song) 1969 songs 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)