Rookery

I believe that this song represents a sense that the world is not as it should be and the young spirit of trying to fix all of the worlds problems. The birch tree is one of the problems he sees that the other person thinks is "in it\'s rightful place" or deserved. In other words, people who don\'t feel the need to help change things. \n\nThe rooks represent a particular issue he thinks he can solve. "they don\'t half bother me," means they drive him crazy, "clawing at my mind with every given opportunity." He was told to go change it then, "go ahead you should go shoot them down."\n\nThe chorus then turns to the realization that he cannot solve this problem that has long existed. "That\'s me, shooting at a hundred year old rookery...The definition of futility." \n\nSo he just goes on with life with weather, wine, and nice company. The closing lines are puzzling at why these problems grasp him as they do. "You don\'t have ideas, ideas have you". \n\nThen again, there probably isn\'t any of that meaning intended and I\'m part of the futile crowd that over interprets Ben\'s songs. Bloody rooks.

ly,My interpretation of this song is a commentary of a self-reflection of human's estranged place in what we humans have termed and socially constructed, 'nature'.

It seems that the subject of the song, possibly Ben as he uses first person, goes through this journey of trying to identify their relationship to nature, consciously or subconsciously. The first few lines, the subject suggests that the birch tree is sentient only to be shot down by someone else:

Birch tree lost its branch one day in violent winter I said, "It was grieving," you said, "It don't feel nothing"

The the subject seems to reflect on the perniciousness of this (anthropocentric) myth / world order that plants and animals can't feel:

'I bet you think everything's in its rightful place That sentiment is man's disgrace'

In the second verse, my opinion is that a shift occurs and that the subject of the song moves away from their earlier perspective on sentience in non humans and becomes convinced to shoot at the rooks (presumably in the birch tree). In the third verse, the subject is actively shooting at the rookery, but seems to have some level of awareness/internal conflict - acknowledging the age of the rookery (100 years) and the futility of the act.

In the final verse, the subject seems to go back to their civilized/comfortable/ignorant ways - "So I'll go back to working through the gentle hours of the evening. Where the weather and the wine and the company treat me easily."

Then, profoundly, the subject hints at how close they were to tapping into an essential truth about the natural world and humans' connection to it, in this case referencing the 'wind' as the deeper truth:

Unknowing am I of the wind that took my eye Unknowing am I of the wind.

Anyway, that's my take. Another beautiful provoking sony by Ben.