Song Club #12: Birds

Birds have long been a lyrical fascination for songwriters

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Birds have long been a lyrical fascination for songwriters—from the Beatles' "Blackbird" to Prince's "When Doves Cry"; from Sufjan Stevens' "little dove”, “little hawk” and “little loon” to Adrianne Lenker's delightful metaphor for time: "hours were the birds and I guess they flew."

Birds symbolize freedom, transcendence, and our own primal yearnings to shed earthly constraints. Birds are both magical and alien. (They FLY, ffs!) Their presence in a song may signal something fragile and sweet, or act as an omen. They are both the watcher, and the watched. The tenderly known, and the utterly alone. It also doesn't hurt that birdsong makes a gorgeous sample.

It also doesn’t hurt that birdsong makes a gorgeous sample.

This week in Song Club, I want you to explore birds in your writing.

Keep going,

Lucy  

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SONG PROVOCATIONS

Write a song that takes the form of a bird's migratory journey.

Let the cyclical, geographic movement of a bird's life cycle inspire the structure and progression of your lyrics and melody.