I love Andrew Bird...and you should, too.

First, you can't write about Andrew Bird when you're listening to the Boss.  So, allow me a moment to change my playlist...

That's better.

I love Andrew Bird, and I think you should, too.  If you don't already own any Andrew Bird, open a new tab on your search engine and navigate to blip.fm.  Search for any of the following songs:  A Nervous Tick Motion of the Head, Imitosis, Tenouousness, Anonanimal, Masterfade, Opposite Day, Armchairs, or Tables and Chairs.

My adoration for Andrew Bird can be expressed best by the words of my husband, who said the following when he described a play by the Steelers during the opening game for the NFL season:  "It's complex.  It's complex.  There's complexity there.  There's lots of layers."

Layer 1- Lyrics.

Andrew Bird can use the following words and phrases in any one of his songs:  proto-Sanskrit Minoans, Uralic syntaxes, cephalopods, radiolarians,  kewpie dolls, and/or onsies.  That's right:  Andrew Bird used Uralic syntaxes in a song.  What are Uralic syntaxes you ask?  According to my trusty iWork Dictionary and Thesaurus (yes, I had to look it up...not ashamed to have done so, either), Uralic means "of, relating to, or denoting a family of languages spoken from Scandinavia to western Siberia, comprising the Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic groups."

I ask myself, as I ask you:  What does it all mean?  Bird himself has admitted that he's still discovering the meaning of some of his songs, so the field for interpretation is wide open (Bird's Blog for the New York Times).  The fact that Bird also includes coprophagia (to eat poop) in the lyrics may cause the unconscious scratching of one's head.  Don't shy away!  Deny any urge you may have to run quickly in the other direction.  Bird challenges the rules of conventional song writing.  Ask yourself, "when was the last time I had to use a dictionary to understand a song?"  When you find yourself saying "never," thank Andrew Bird for giving you an opportunity to raise your IQ by a couple of points.

Layer 2 - Imagery
You may argue that imagery and lyrics have a lot to do with each other.  No disagreement here.  That doesn't mean they can exist on two layers for the listener.  Not only does Andrew Bird engage in clever wordsmithing, he does so with a craft and precision that makes it dangerous to drive or impossible to walk a straight line when I listen to his music.  From clown fish drifting through sea anemones in Anonanimal, to two people navigating their way through a relationship in Armchair, Andrew Bird tells a story with every song full of scents, sounds, and memories.  Even whimsy.

Layer 3 - Instrumentation

Violin.  Guitar.  Whistle (his lips, not the instrument).  Loop pedal.  Sometimes he even uses a glockenspiel. 

Check out this link to Pitchfork TV.  Bird performs his song Anonanimal in a church...alone...no back up (you may need to navigate to this...it's page 3 on the list of "other videos").  I realize that the use of a loop pedal is nothing revolutionary, but the orchestral delight of Bird mixing layer upon layer of violin riff, whistle, and guitar chord is a reminder that this form of performance art is more than just the words and the notes; it's the texture of the sound as well.

Layer 3 - Message and Meaning

Dark Matter is one of my favorite Andrew Bird songs, and here's why:  Dark Matter, Operation, Action Toys, and a question of where our souls find their home.  Divergent?  Not really.  Bird weaves the concepts together in a delicate tapestry that aches with nostalgia and the universal theme of faith.  Do you wonder where the soul resides?  Is it in your head or between your sides, and who will be the one who will decide its true location?

Andrew Bird has read Silent Spring.  Maybe he's just read the intro.  I don't know...I don't have the man on speed dial to ask him.  But it's obvious from Spare-Ohs that he's thought a lot about the use of pesticides and other industrial chemicals in today's commercial culture.  Maybe he's just seen The Story of Stuff.  Who cares.  What's important is that he cares about message.  He asks big questions in his songs; he critiques; he points fingers.  Move over, Ani Difranco (actually, one of Bird's first solo albums was released by Ani's label, Righteous Babe Records).

Layer 4 -Andrew Bird is a genuine NERD.
And I love him for it.  The man is gawky, skinny, angular, whimsical, awkward, and adorable.  He's obsessive about his music...many of his songs are reworkings of previous attempts - I for Imitosis, for example. He worked GPS and binary language into one of his songs, for crying out loud! Can you guess what Scythian Empire is about?  Awesome song.  Haliburton makes an appearance.

I've droned on long enough.  Listen to some of his music.  Learn for yourself the genius of the crush my husband tolerates.  I leave you with the lyrics to Fiery Crash.  Take what lesson you will from the words...especially given today's date:

Fiery Crash, from Armchair Apocrypha
Turnstiles on mezzanine
Jet ways and Dramamine fiends and x-ray machines
You were hurling through space,
G-forces twisting your face
Breeding superstition
A fatal premonition
You know you got to envision the fiery crash.

Oh close your eyes and you wake up
Face stuck to a vinyl settee
Oh the line was starting to break up
Just as you were starting to say
Something apropos I don't know

Beige tiles and magazines
Lou Dobbs and the CNN team on every monitor screen
You were caught in the crossfire
Where every human face has you reaching for your mace
So it's kind of an imposition
fatal premonition

To save our lives you've got to envision
and save all our lives you've got to envision
the fiery crash

It's just a formality
Why must I explain?
Just a nod to mortality
Before you get on a plane.

Oh close your eyes and you wake up
face stuck to a vinyl settee
Oh the line was starting to break up
What was that you were going to say?