universal_
02-03-2009, 08:45 PM
This song (Flightless Bird/American Mouth by Iron & Wine) is so nice.
It is surely a lament of lost America, in my opinion. It starts with childhood memories, toys, the County Fair: Leave it to Beaver America. Then the "cops" shut it down, he grows up "cut my long baby hair" and he is searching... "called for you everywhere", with an "American mouth"
The second verse gets into this loss of voice thing that is really cool: the house cat, too fat to do anything about the rats in the yard, his tongue sore from talking. This is a powerful analogy about feeling alienated and voiceless in America, unable to help the broken/flightless/bleeding bird....perhaps the bald eagle?? Is it lost or found? too late or are we to save it?
official lyrics:
...
I was a quick wet boy, diving too deep for coins
All of your street light eyes wide on my plastic toys
Then when the cops closed the fair, I cut my long baby hair
Stole me a dog-eared map and called for you everywhere
Have I found you
Flightless bird, jealous, weeping or lost you, american mouth
Big pill looming
Now I'm a fat house cat
Nursing my sore blunt tongue
Watching the warm poison rats curl through the wide fence cracks
Pissing on magazine photos
Those fishing lures thrown in the cold
And clean blood of Christ mountain stream
Have I found you
Flightless bird, grounded, bleeding or lost you, american mouth
Big pill stuck going down
heres the song/video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FddRcJwlT4&feature=related
=)
It is surely a lament of lost America, in my opinion. It starts with childhood memories, toys, the County Fair: Leave it to Beaver America. Then the "cops" shut it down, he grows up "cut my long baby hair" and he is searching... "called for you everywhere", with an "American mouth"
The second verse gets into this loss of voice thing that is really cool: the house cat, too fat to do anything about the rats in the yard, his tongue sore from talking. This is a powerful analogy about feeling alienated and voiceless in America, unable to help the broken/flightless/bleeding bird....perhaps the bald eagle?? Is it lost or found? too late or are we to save it?
official lyrics:
...
I was a quick wet boy, diving too deep for coins
All of your street light eyes wide on my plastic toys
Then when the cops closed the fair, I cut my long baby hair
Stole me a dog-eared map and called for you everywhere
Have I found you
Flightless bird, jealous, weeping or lost you, american mouth
Big pill looming
Now I'm a fat house cat
Nursing my sore blunt tongue
Watching the warm poison rats curl through the wide fence cracks
Pissing on magazine photos
Those fishing lures thrown in the cold
And clean blood of Christ mountain stream
Have I found you
Flightless bird, grounded, bleeding or lost you, american mouth
Big pill stuck going down
heres the song/video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FddRcJwlT4&feature=related
=)