8 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
Happy Birthday Lyrics
It's a very happy day
We are at lots of fun fun fun
And it's ice-cream and jelly
and a punch in the belly
How much can you throw over the walls?
And see how his face glows
It's a bike! What a surprise.
It's a big bike. What a big surprise.
It's a red bike. What a red surprise.
Oh, what a surprise.
But the best thing there
But the best thing there
Was the wonderful dog chair
Was the beautiful dog chair
That could count right up to ten
It could count right up to ten
It went woof, woof, woof, woof, woof,
woof, woof, woof, woof, woof.
And it's another happy day.
He was born eleven years ago
And this year it's long trousers
and a very smart tie.
Just think in five years he'll be shaving.
And see how his face glows
It's a bike. What a surprise!
It's a samurai sword.
What a metal surprise.
He'll remember this day for the rest of his life.
But the best thing there
But the best thing there
Is that fabulous dog chair
The immaculate dog chair
That could count right up to eleven
It could count right up to eleven
It went woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof,
woof, woof, woof.
But the best thing there
But the best thing there
Was my darling the dog chair
But the rampaging dog chair
That could count right up to eleven
It could count right up to eleven.
And it went round and round the house.
We are at lots of fun fun fun
And it's ice-cream and jelly
and a punch in the belly
How much can you throw over the walls?
It's a bike! What a surprise.
It's a big bike. What a big surprise.
It's a red bike. What a red surprise.
Oh, what a surprise.
But the best thing there
Was the wonderful dog chair
Was the beautiful dog chair
That could count right up to ten
It could count right up to ten
It went woof, woof, woof, woof, woof,
woof, woof, woof, woof, woof.
He was born eleven years ago
And this year it's long trousers
and a very smart tie.
Just think in five years he'll be shaving.
It's a bike. What a surprise!
It's a samurai sword.
What a metal surprise.
He'll remember this day for the rest of his life.
But the best thing there
Is that fabulous dog chair
The immaculate dog chair
That could count right up to eleven
It went woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof,
woof, woof, woof.
But the best thing there
Was my darling the dog chair
But the rampaging dog chair
That could count right up to eleven
It could count right up to eleven.
Song Info
Submitted by
girgo On May 11, 2004
More The Birthday Party
Sonny's Burning
Mutiny in Heaven
Jennifer's Veil
Nick The Stripper
Wild World
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
are you serious? i've never seen such a thing, and I've been to many birthdays. Can you point to a picture of one? i've looked all over the internet and have not found one.
aww. . .he left out "the fru fru dog chair"
the first three comments on this song are absolutely hilarious
What's a dog chair?
OMG! elmedio dosen't know what a dog chair is, its one of thoes magical chairs made out of dogs....This is usually how my birthdays go!
aw come on. someone surely knows what the deal with this song is. ITS MADDENING!!!
i get a seriously traumatised picture of someone who was taken aside in private on his birthday and given a present that nobody would want... there is so much violent phallic imagery and beast noises plus the idea of sitting on a living body (dog chair) that makes me think nick cave had a seriously tormented youth...
I think the song is about the time just before the onset of puberty. And like most of what Nick Cave writes it has references to sex and violence.
The initial lines contrast the image of childhood "ice-cream and jelly" with violent imagery "a punch in the belly", it then comes together with "how much can we throw over the walls?". Something that could be childhood competiveness, adolescent vandalism or adult machismo.
The child at first receives a bike which is objectified and simplified to being "big" and "red". It is the scale and colour that stimulates the child, it is no longer the bike its self which surprises the child and makes them happy. Treating a mode of transport this way is something that is often associated with adult's who are interested in cars. It is simplified because the narrator is taking the perspective of the child, the stimuli it is interested in is the same as an adult's would be but as they are a child they lack the terminology and knowledge to elaborate.
One year on the child is getting closer to puberty - "in 5 years he'll be shaving", this is something that sounds like the child's parents would say. Proud and happy of their innocent child who is yet to hit adolescence. The child receives a sword, this is both violent and phallic imagery and so follows several contradictions in the child's head. A "ninja sword" would put him in the position of assassin, a "samurai sword" would make him an honourable hero. What role will he play? The clearly set out attitudes to evil and good are becoming blurred to the child, they are beginning to subconsciously question defined roles which will come to the forefront in several years time. For the time being the sword is just "metal".
And the dog chair? Sexuality. I didn't understand this one till I learnt "fufu" was Australian slang for a vagina. The child is sitting on its sexuality. Sensuous and rampaging, the primal hormones are there but "immaculate" - the realisation of them won't happen for several more years.
Until then the child the child will just use its energy running "round and round the house".
And here I was thinking it was just a bit silly for ages.
@G, F#, E Could it be that you think too much?
@G, F#, E Could it be that you think too much?
@G, F#, E Interested in the part about "dog chair". I thought it meant that the subject, and/or one of the other kids, had retained the toddler-ish habit of straddling the family dog like a horse - until on his eleventh birthday the dog finally lost patience and attacked/bit the sitter(s), and then went on a vandalism spree "rampaging" "round and round the house". Whether G, F, E's sex-based theory holds up depends on whether you hear "fufu" or "frou-frou" - listening again I hear the latter....
@G, F#, E Interested in the part about "dog chair". I thought it meant that the subject, and/or one of the other kids, had retained the toddler-ish habit of straddling the family dog like a horse - until on his eleventh birthday the dog finally lost patience and attacked/bit the sitter(s), and then went on a vandalism spree "rampaging" "round and round the house". Whether G, F, E's sex-based theory holds up depends on whether you hear "fufu" or "frou-frou" - listening again I hear the latter.