It just keeps on happening.
5. “The Littlest Birds,” the Be Good Tanyas
A pretty straightforwardly-lyrical bird song.
Well it’s times like these
I feel so small and wild
Like the ramblin’ footsteps of a wanderin’ child
And I’m lonesome as a lonesome whippoorwill
Singin’ these blues with a warble and a trill
But I’m not too blue to fly
No I’m not too blue to fly cause
The littlest birds sing the prettiest songs…
Flying and singing like birds do with some plant and color references tossed in there for good measure. Nice and easy.
4. “Bird of the Summer,” A Fine Frenzy
And more straightforwardness. So many people can write distinctly different songs about the same general theme, and it’s somehow still interesting. Awesome.
The fields where we wandered were golden, now only muddy my boots
And I know I should recover, you’re a bird of the summer
I was wrong to try and capture you
Flight, flight
This is off the album Bomb in a Birdcage, so it makes sense that it references a captured/caged bird. Yes.
3. “Drops in the River,” Fleet Foxes
Birds as part of a narrative, adding to the ethereal mood. These guys are big with the ethereal.
Years ago, birds of a feather would arrive nightly
Gone you know, held to another like clutched ivy
On the shore, speak to the ocean and receive silence
Only you, only you, you know
2. “Wind in the Wires,” Patrick Wolf
Again, basically thematically similar, though because it’s Patrick Wolf it feels significantly darker.
This wild electricity,
made static by industry.
Like a bird in an aviary,
Singing to the sky,
Just singing to be free.
To be free.
Freedom is a beautiful, universal theme. I think that’s the lesson here.
1. “Jailbird,” M. Ward
An even more caged bird, yearning to be free. Is this an actual bird in a cage? Is this a person who is the proverbial jailbird? Does it matter?
Jailbird, jailbird, singing through the wires
‘Cause his cage is closed and he’s stuck inside
Said who’s gonna hear my “Help me, help me” now?
Yeah, who’s gonna hear my “Help me, help me” now?
Help me, help me, help me help me now
–your fangirl heroine.
