Exactly what I was going to say, Jeremy. I think it's all a play on "a little birdie told me." He mentions birds several times in the song. ("I've seen those birdies chirping"; "Sometimes I get so naked I sing like a canary"; "But still I can hear those dirty birds chirp away"; "The ones you scattered with your wings.")
I'm thinking it has something to do with gossip, broken promises, definitely secrets. He talks about diaries, where we typically write our deepest secrets...all the things we don't want other people to know but can't keep inside (We all hide a diary beneath some mattress).
The first four lines seem to be about people that can't keep promises (Loose-lipped secrets; Another promise perched on their fragile branches) , the second about the speaker as a secret keeper (And I scream out what I shouldn't scream), the next five about people that keep their promises (They don't let the whispers slip Between the cracks of the bathroom stalls Or be written on the bathroom walls....), the fourth set about listening to other people keep gossipping and being very familiar with it (But still I can hear those dirty birds chirp away It's a song I know by heart), then the speaker is saying where he keeps the secrets he doesn't want anyone to know, gossip about, whatever.
Anyway, that's pretty much what I got from it. There are some holes, some lines I haven't been able to fit in with this, some not-so-sound logic, but it fits for me.
I do love this song.
Exactly what I was going to say, Jeremy. I think it's all a play on "a little birdie told me." He mentions birds several times in the song. ("I've seen those birdies chirping"; "Sometimes I get so naked I sing like a canary"; "But still I can hear those dirty birds chirp away"; "The ones you scattered with your wings.")
I'm thinking it has something to do with gossip, broken promises, definitely secrets. He talks about diaries, where we typically write our deepest secrets...all the things we don't want other people to know but can't keep inside (We all hide a diary beneath some mattress).
The first four lines seem to be about people that can't keep promises (Loose-lipped secrets; Another promise perched on their fragile branches) , the second about the speaker as a secret keeper (And I scream out what I shouldn't scream), the next five about people that keep their promises (They don't let the whispers slip Between the cracks of the bathroom stalls Or be written on the bathroom walls....), the fourth set about listening to other people keep gossipping and being very familiar with it (But still I can hear those dirty birds chirp away It's a song I know by heart), then the speaker is saying where he keeps the secrets he doesn't want anyone to know, gossip about, whatever.
Anyway, that's pretty much what I got from it. There are some holes, some lines I haven't been able to fit in with this, some not-so-sound logic, but it fits for me.