Oh No Lyrics

Lyric discussion by hairend 

Cover art for Oh No lyrics by Andrew Bird

I love the beautiful assonance throughout this song. "Oh arm and arm we are the harmless sociopaths" and "calcium mine" sound so good. Before reading the lyrics I couldn't quite pick out the exact words, but they all bled into each other and flowed together so wonderfully. It's similar to how we think foreign languages sound beautiful because we're focusing primarily on the phonetics, rather than the literal meaning.

Andrew Bird may be the most excellent lyricist I have ever known, and if anyone knows of any better, do tell because I'd like to know their work as well.

i really liked your breakdown of the way his lyrics sound. and yeah i also couldn't make out the words, and when i found out I was a bit surprised and intrigued. your reasoning on foreign languages is cool too, but i'm just wondering if there is a point when a foreign language becomes less beautiful...if we learn it? i dunno.

his lyrics are great, but i also think The Shins have really awesome lyrics. james mercer's writing on Wincing the Night Away (album) is reallly something to think about

Well if we're talking about words flowing into each other and how fun things are to say then Andrew Bird is definitely near the top of the list.

But, he is dwarfed by Jim Morrison or Leonard Cohen when it comes to poetry, and Tom Waits or Bob Dylan when it comes to story telling.

There's another lyricist I know of that is comparable in quality. He's not as fun, but he's incredibly beautiful and clever with his words. His name's Glenn Richards from the Australian band Augie March.