5 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
Pretty Bird Lyrics
Pretty bird, pretty bird
Why you so still?
Pretty bird, pretty bird
We've been waiting on you
You go west for the black setting sun
You go south to the white spirit world
You go east for those real green eyes
You go north, walk the good red road
Pretty bird
There's a mirror in heaven
Pretty bird, pretty bird
There's a window on earth
You go west for the black setting sun
You go south to the white spirit world
You go east for those real green eyes
You go north, walk the good red road
Pretty bird
Some pity me, yeah
Oh, pity me, yeah
Stars pity me
For the blood of the pretty
The blood of the pretty
The blood of the pretty bird
Pretty bird, pretty bird
Who's starving you still?
You go west for the black setting sun
You go south to the white spirit world
You go east for those real green eyes
You go north, walk the good red road
Pretty bird
Why you so still?
Pretty bird, pretty bird
We've been waiting on you
You go south to the white spirit world
You go east for those real green eyes
You go north, walk the good red road
Pretty bird
Pretty bird, pretty bird
There's a window on earth
You go south to the white spirit world
You go east for those real green eyes
You go north, walk the good red road
Pretty bird
Oh, pity me, yeah
Stars pity me
For the blood of the pretty
The blood of the pretty
The blood of the pretty bird
Who's starving you still?
You go south to the white spirit world
You go east for those real green eyes
You go north, walk the good red road
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
jenny's voice is so effing delicate in this song. drop a grain of salt on it and it would just fall apart.
Jenny Lewis said, on the show Spectacle, this song is about a story she heard on public radio about a woman getting raped on an Indian reservation.
@brighteyes304 Yes. Pretty Bird Women's Shelter is in McLaughlin, SD on the Standing Rock Reservation. It was named after Pretty Bird Woman, the sister of the shelter's founder who was raped and murdered.
@brighteyes304 Yes. Pretty Bird Women's Shelter is in McLaughlin, SD on the Standing Rock Reservation. It was named after Pretty Bird Woman, the sister of the shelter's founder who was raped and murdered.
Notice the four directions/colors that make up the song's chorus, the mimic the four directions and colors of the Lakota Medicine Wheel. The only one that is accurate to the real thing, however, is "West/black setting sun." The direction west on the Medicine wheel is black, and represents the setting sun. Interestingly, she says "north/walk the good red road." North on the Medicine Wheel is white, not...
Notice the four directions/colors that make up the song's chorus, the mimic the four directions and colors of the Lakota Medicine Wheel. The only one that is accurate to the real thing, however, is "West/black setting sun." The direction west on the Medicine wheel is black, and represents the setting sun. Interestingly, she says "north/walk the good red road." North on the Medicine Wheel is white, not red (red is east.) Funny enough, to "Walk the Red Road" is a turn of phrase on the reservation that means, in essence: to stay sober, stay clean, and worship in a traditional way.
I spent the better part of a year on the Pine Ridge Reservation with the Oglala Lakota, so I got familiar with these themes way after having heard the song. I hadn't listened to it in a long time, and one day I heard it so perfectly. Without knowing the story of Pretty Bird, I knew it was a Lakota woman's name. So I did the research. It's interesting stuff.
I kind of wish Jenny would make a significant donation to the shelter itself. I'm not saying she hasn't --but there's no record if she did, and I just really hope she did. They have struggled to stay open for a while.
i really like this song. at first i didn't like it until i saw jenny perform it live. you can see the emotion in her face when she's singing it on stage. absolutely beautiful.
I love this song. Jenny Lewis is just amazing.
Without having heard the story behind the song, my take is that it's a about a tender sensitive soul that is not being cared for properly or being treated well. "for the blood of the pretty" and "Who's starving you still?" are key phrases for me. Beautiful song.