| Iron & Wine – Flightless Bird, American Mouth Lyrics | 15 years ago |
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I believe this song represents the loss of the true America and also the reality of gain and loss in love. Verse 1: It begins with a typical childhood “I was a quick wet boy, diving too deep for coins,” he was full of life, energetic, playful “All of your straight light eyes wide on my plastic toys,” light represents all that is good and eyes represent the sense of security he felt as a child. Then the cops (symbol of government) shut down the fair (fun/childhood), “cut my long baby hair” he had to grow up and leave his innocence and childhood behind and “called for you everywhere” he is left searching. Chorus: some say this song has nothing to do with Twilight. In the prom scene only the important lyrics stand out (i.e. “have I found you” and “flightless bird”) therefore it does relate to the story. Bella is the flightless bird and Edward has found her. It brings me back to the scene in the forest against the rock when Edward tells Bella “You don’t know how long I’ve waited for you.” This means that he was expecting this love and waiting for it. So, has he finally found it? But at the same time he can wonder “or lost you?” With Bella being human and a mortal he can lose her after her years are up. In Bella’s case, her childhood could refer to the childhood in this song. Then she had to grow up due to her parents splitting up and her mother’s new boyfriend/husband and all that tags along with “broken homes.” If you notice when she first moves to Forks, she is not the happiest person. It takes Edward to bring some joy to her life. Therefore “have I found you flightless bird.” Edward can indeed be a flightless bird. Anxious because the love of his life may not be by his side for eternity. “Or lost you,” Bella can lose Edward if he realizes that their life together as human and vampire can ultimately be a disaster. Verse 2: “Fat house cat” can symbolize the grown up version of the child spoken of in verse 1. A house cat is indoors “watching the warm poison rats…,” and can only watch what is going on in the world outside their four walls. In this sense the house cat (US citizens) is useless in what is going on in “America”. “Those fishing lures thrown in the cold and clean Blood of Christ mountain stream” this really confuses me. I am very sure that the writer acknowledges that the Blood of Christ is “clean” but where does this fit in? The only thing that comes to mind is that America was built on a Christian foundation. That may have been the bait to get away from the persecutions and present day America is “fishing” and benefitting from the journey of the pilgrims. Whatever the true meaning of the song, I unconditionally believe that it fit perfectly in Twilight. |
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