The Trees Were Mistaken

I'm surprised more people haven't commented. In my opinion this is Andrew Bird's best song.. as far as the meaning goes, my only guess is that this is a story, some kind of a story...

I honestly think that this is one of those Bird songs where he uses his voice purely as an instrument and not as a storyteller. Ironic, because it gives the appearance of being an actual story. The words sound beautiful, they're grouped together with such poetry, but I can't find a solid story or message that he's trying to get across.

I love the line: am i dead or am i dying or am i simply tired of crying?

this is a story written about a boy and girl, a girl and a boy, a boy.

oh the good life, only flighting. that some boy in the dark, while i joan of arc inverted crystal mountain kind of a story.

this is a story. man, about the sheriffs in cyprus, the scarlets to soften translations of Sanskrit. just as my handwritten story.

Maybe.

This is a story, some kind of a story This is a story about, about a boy and girl A girl and a boy, a boy, boy, boy Only flighting That some boy in the dark while he learned to evoke Inverted crystal mountain kind of a story

This is a story Man, about the serifs and ciphers that the scholars deciphered Translations of sanskrit Just as my handwritten story

This is a story where the singers begin to appear In the spaces between all the dashes and braces In the moth-bitten story Of getting left behind This is a story

Some kind of a story With the pages distressed, sins you held to your chest They were mangled and dog eared, while the rest were just mangy and glory This is a story about the memory of water Translating the sound of the traffic Remember the traffic? It's making you carsick all along southfield freeway

And translating mistakes and the trees were mistaken And the trees for the woods and the sound of the trash For the sound of the blowing leaves along the southfield freeway

My name is a blackbird, and the breast is a two tone Feathers are warm in molasses Twisting the words from the silence to gasses Now I don't have worry of making it It's so unclear Am I dead or am I dying Or am I simply tired of crying?

My name is a blackbird, and the breast is a two tone Feathers are warm in molasses Twisting the words from the silence to gasses Now I don't have worry of making it It's so unclear Am I dead or am I dying Or am I simply tired of crying?

My name is a blackbird

My interpretation: This is one of Andrew Bird’s best, most underrated and undiscovered songs. As well as that, it’s one of the hardest songs to decipher a meaning from.

It’s correct what others have said on this song, the first function of these lyrics are certainly to allow Bird’s voice to be used to it’s best as an instrument. Most people have come to the conclusion that there is no meaning to the lyrics and/or given up looking for one.

My interpretation is that this is what the song is about. The loss of meaning and the pointless search for meaning.

[The song was part of the music for an interpretive dance by Molly Shanahan and featured on the Soldier On EP. Perhaps, to better understand it one would have to see the performance.]

One of the leading ways it makes this ‘impossible search for meaning’ the theme is by juxtaposing and saying things that it isn’t.

‘This is a story, some kind of a story’ -The first line opens introducing us to the song to what we think is a story. The song is undoubtedly not a story yet it makes the effort to present it as one, so as to imply there is a meaning to be found.

‘This is a story about, about a boy and girl A girl and a boy, a boy, boy, boy’ -The way the song goes on to give us details of what kind of a story it’s going to be, it further implies meaning is present. A story of a boy and a girl seems like it could be a classic story and something familiar.

‘Only flighting That some boy in the dark while he learned to evoke Inverted crystal mountain kind of a story’ The flighting image implies that perhaps their presence in the song won’t last and is gone soon, making what seemed like a linear story as the basis of the lyrics not being the case. The ‘inverted crystal mountain kind of a story’ evokes the sense of fantasy tales and so makes the image of a classic story.

‘This is a story’ -All of this tells the listener they’re going to hear a story, which the song isn’t, making one looking for meaning challenged and the search even harder.

‘Man, about the serifs and ciphers that the scholars deciphered Translations of sanskrit’ -Bird describes translations and people deciphering scriptures, this is the image of us looking for meaning in the song.

‘Just as my handwritten story’ -As this line says. Scholars decipher scripture just as one would with Bird’s song (his ‘handwritten story’)

‘This is a story where the singers begin to appear In the spaces between all the dashes and braces’ -This shows the song (or story) consists of the vocals ‘singers’ being used to fill the spaces in the words, alluding to the singing just being an instrument for the melody.

‘In the moth-bitten story’ -The story ‘song’ is moth-bitten. It’s got holes in it, in the sense there’s no meaning to be found. Leaving gaps.

‘Of getting left behind’ -Moth bitten story of getting left behind, as there’s no characters in the story, what’s getting left behind is the meaning to the lyrics.

‘This is a story Some kind of a story With the pages distressed, sins you held to your chest They were mangled and dog eared, while the rest were just mangy and glory’ -This is hard to decipher. But again reaffirms the song is a story but ‘just some kind of’ one. It’s not sure which. The pages distressed implies they’re aware the written words are useless. ‘Sins you held to your chest’ maybe implies the singer is aware their words mean nothing and perhaps acknowledges guilt.

‘This is a story about the memory of water Translating the sound of the traffic’ -This really confirms the song being about the pointless search for meaning. Water is a liquid and has no shape and is ever changing. It’s ‘memory’ (it’s previous form) is inconsistent and tenuous. That’s what the story is about. Traffic has the sound of a huge garbled mess of noise. Of people, cars and cities. It’s impossible to translate a single voice from within, which is very reflective of trying to find a single meaning in the song.

‘Remember the traffic? It's making you carsick all along southfield freeway’ -This bit is the hardest to figure out. I’m not from the US so don’t understand any significance in this road, but considering Andrew Bird was at the time, based in Chicago, (Southfield freeway being in the great-lakes Midwest area) this must relate to a personal experience of his. Perhaps the sound of traffic (being the convoluted meaning of the song) making one sick relates to the sickening feel of not knowing the meaning of something. And placing it on a specific road gives a human quality. I don’t know.

‘And translating mistakes and the trees were mistaken’ -Translating mistakes is perhaps what we’re doing now. The lyrics of the song are messy and inconsistent and we’re trying to translate them. ‘The Trees were mistaken’ is interesting. Considering it’s said once yet is the title of the song. My interpretation is that the song is ‘the trees’. In the sense that it’s something beautiful and natural (as is the sound of the song, it’s undeniably a great listen and flows naturally) and they’ve been mistaken, as the following line continues:

‘And the trees for the woods and the sound of the trash’ -To mistake trees and woods, a beautiful, natural concept (the song) for trash perhaps refers again to the guilt that the song is inconsistent and means nothing. We’ve heard a beautiful sound, but at a closer look, it has no meaning and is messy and inconsistent. If the line is interpreted that the trees were mistaken for woods than perhaps it means the song was mistaken for something more. Something larger and put together.

‘For the sound of the blowing leaves along the southfield freeway’ -If the sound of trash is mistaken for blowing leaves, than again what appears to be a beautiful flowing song (blowing leaves) is simply trash. Something without meaning or significance. Like the song. Still don’t grasp the reference to the Southfield freeway, but if the song is about the lack of meaning, than it does fit well.

‘My name is a blackbird, and the breast is a two tone Feathers are warm in molasses’ -This is the closest the song has to a chorus. ‘My name is a Blackbird’ is the name of the original performance and it has been integrated into the song well. I see it has highlighting the juxtaposition in the song. How it claims to be a story yet isn’t one. If something/one was a blackbird than their breast would be one colour. Black. But their Breast is a ‘two tone’. They say they’re one thing, yet evidence shows them to be another. E.g. the song. ‘Feathers are warm in molasses’ would be such evidence. Molasses is famously sticky and so would imply the feathers of this supposed blackbird are simply stuck on. It’s a loony tunes type image but shows what it’s claiming it to be is only pretend. As the song claims to be story with a meaning, it isn’t.

‘Twisting the words from the silence to gasses’ -It’s unclear what the ‘words from the silence’ are. Perhaps the silence is the lack of meaning (as nothing is said) and so such words are simply the lyrics. To twist them ‘from the silence to gasses’ implies they originally meant nothing, but now they’re ‘gasses’. Perhaps meaning they’re now present but still particulate and unseeable. ‘Now I don't have worry of making it It's so unclear’ This verse feels a lot like the voice of the song has shaken its guilt of not giving any meaning and is now pleased with the concept. The way it tells us it’s wrong through the blackbird metaphor. And this line is it revelling in that feeling. He doesn’t have to worry of making lyrics with meaning, now that the lyrics are so unclear, it’s no longer required for any of it to make sense and/or have meaning.

‘Am I dead or am I dying Or am I simply tired of crying?’ -And so we get a beautifully written line as the one above, but there is a lack of meaning to it. Andrew can now sing this line, something without meaning but sounds brilliant, without the required context.

‘My name is a blackbird, and the breast is a two tone Feathers are warm in molasses Twisting the words from the silence to gasses Now I don't have worry of making it It's so unclear Am I dead or am I dying Or am I simply tired of crying?’ -The song repeats its joy in accepting not meaning anything.

‘My name is a blackbird’ -The final line reinforces the juxtaposition of the song. It’s stating it is one specific thing, when it really is not. But this time, there’s no need to state reasons it isn’t, because it’s given up trying to apply that meaning. So the song ends claiming it is one specific thing, which arguably, it is. It’s about the loss of meaning.

I’m sure there’s other interpretations and I’ve perhaps looked too far into it. Perhaps none of what I said was intended and just was meant to accommodate a lovely tune. But these things are meant to be enjoyed.

i did my best here transcribing; i know there's mistakes, but i'll keep it in mind to check comments and make corrections.

key: [ ] = i don't know. [something in brackets] = my guess, but i'm not sure.

as for interpretation, i have no idea. but i love a. bird and am ridiculously excited for the new album. :)

i think it's my name IS a blackbird; the song is both from the "soldier on" ep and "music from and inspired by my name is a blackbird"

some corrections:

"and with the pages distressed that you held to your chest, they were mangled and dog-eared while the rest were just mangy and gory."

it's definitely "my name is a blackbird"

"am i dead or am i dying or am i simply tired of crying?"

i believe he's saying something about the word "nuclear" instead of "making it".

also, some other notes - andrew was commisioned to write this piece for an interpretive dance piece put together by molly shanahan. each artist commision to write a piece of music was given a material object on which to base their composition, so i'd imagine that some of the seemingly nonsensical lyrics are coming from that.

*commisioned

made a couple corrections/guesses. i'm absolutely surprised how andrew bird can sing one thing and it can come out clear as day to be something to one person (me), and something completely different to another. haha.

Andrew Bird is a genius.