Observations placeholder
Fleetwood Mac - Songbird
Identifier
021527
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Penguin lyric interpretation
Seldom can any song invoke the pure emotion that Songbird can. The call for lyric interpretations also invoked quite a varied response as to Songbird’s origins and meaning.
Songbird is most often believed to be about the members of the band, and how the turmoil they were going through was affecting her life. There were hard times between all of them, and the "songbirds" she sings about are all the members of the band. The song shows how much these people meant to her and how big a role they played in her life, and the need for the members of the band to get along with each other and keep on singing.
Others believe Songbird to be about lovers and friends in general. She could have been listening to the birds chirping in the morning and she looked down at the man she was with and thought how wonderful it was and wonderful it was going to be -- and as she hears the birds singing they sing the feelings and confirm them--its about love and how great it is. It could also be a song made up of the kind of promises you pledge when lying in the arms of a lover, late in the night. But these promises seem sad, as though coming after a disagreement, with the songbirds as the only witnesses. They are the kind of promises that come thoughtlessly easy in love that is still new and shiny, but take a much deeper and more sacred meaning after the love has been tested in the fire. It's tarnished but in some way, stronger...like never before. It also openly affirms one lover's sense of responsibility for the power they now feel they have over the other's life. When you truly love someone you don't want them to ever feel a moment of pain...especially pain that you have caused, "but most of all I wish it from myself". This song gets it's tinge of sadness from the fact that, despite your best intentions, you never really have that much control over love at all.
Also, there is a bittersweet tone in the line "and the songbirds keep singing, like they know the score.".......
In Christine McVie’s own words, Songbird is "about nobody and everybody…in retrospect, it’s like an anthem…a little prayer of sorts." What words could more aptly describe this incredible song.
Additional notes
Birds and birdsong a symbolic.
A description of the experience
Fleetwood Mac - Songbird
For you, there'll be no more crying,
For you, the sun will be shining,
And I feel that when I'm with you,
It's alright, I know it's right
To you, I'll give the world
to you, I'll never be cold
'Cause I feel that when I'm with you,
It's alright, I know it's right.
And the songbirds are singing,
Like they know the score,
And I love you, I love you, I love you,
Like never before.
And I wish you all the love in the world,
But most of all, I wish it from myself.
And the songbirds keep singing,
Like they know the score,
And I love you, I love you, I love you,
Like never before, like never before.