“The Bird” by The Time, “Snowbird” by Anne Murray and PSY’s “Bird” are just a few of the many songs with bird in the title that have been the subject of many pop and rock tunes over the years. Songs with bird in the title has also been used frequently in song titles, either to describe the feathery creature or as a metaphor for flight or escapism.
The songs shown below feature “bird” in the title. They might be able to assist you in putting together a playlist that will your spirits.
Here are 22 songs with bird in the title:
1. “The Bird” by The Time
Morris Day, the band’s frontman, led the Minneapolis-based Time to success in the United States with this dance track.
During “Purple Rain,” Day portrayed Prince’s nemesis and performed “The Bird” with The Time. Songwriters Day, Prince and Jesse Johnson penned the song, which relates to a bird-like dance.
A well-known Hanna-Barbera cartoon series was the inspiration for Day’s dance, which she detailed to Yahoo Music’s Lyndsey Parker in 2019.
“The Flintstones” had an episode where everyone was doing ‘the pterodactyl,'” Day reminisced to Parker. That’s when we started doing it onstage, “So it was just on from there.”
2. “Snowbird” by Anne Murray
It was originally the B-side of Murray’s song, “Just Bidin’ My Time,” written by Gene MacLellan. The flip side, “Snowbird,” became increasingly popular in North America after it was first played by a radio DJ in the United States in the spring of 1970.
In 1970, it became one of the most frequently played songs on the continent. “Snowbird,” Murray’s first gold record in the United States, made her the first Canadian woman to do so. Presley, Bing Crosby and Loretta Lynn have all recorded the song.
3. PSY’s “Bird”
Parka Jae-sung, better known as PSY, released his debut album eleven years before he had a worldwide smash single and major YouTube success with “Gangnam Style.”
Samples from Shocking Blue and Bananarama’s smash “Venus” were used in the song “Bird.”.. The song was accompanied with a music video.
Psy received a fine from the South Korean government for the album’s “inappropriate content,” but that didn’t stop the controversy.
The lyrics were too obscene to be sold to minors. The South Korean singer-songwriter PSY was a student at Boston’s Berklee College of Music before abandoning his studies to return to his own country and pursue a singing career.
4. The Beatles’ “Blackbird”
It was during the civil rights struggle of the 1960s that Paul McCartney wrote “Blackbird,” one of his most famous songs and one of the best songs with bird in the title. “Learn to soar with these damaged wings/All your life/You were simply waiting for this opportunity to arrive,” he sings.
When McCartney spoke to ABC’s Diane Sawyer about the blackbird in 2006, he described it as a metaphor for a strong black woman.
Backstage after a concert in Little Rock in 2016, the former Beatle met two members of the Little Rock Nine, civil rights pioneers.
“And Your Bird Can Sing,” “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown),” and “Free As a Bird” are just a few of the many songs the Beatles recorded with the word “bird” in the title. McCartney wrote and performed “Bluebird” with Wings as a solo artist.
5. The Everly Brothers’ song “Bird Dog”
The Everly Brothers’ singles “All I Have to Do is Dream,” “Wake Up Little Susie,” and “Take a Message To Mary” were written by Boudleaux Bryant, who also composed “Bird Dog.”
The Everlys producer Archie Bleyer wanted TV ventriloquist Jimmy Nelson to provide the voice of his puppet, Farfel, for the spoken “He’s a bird…a he’s dog” passages of the song.
However, that plan was abandoned, and “Bird Dog” later finished in second place on the singles charts in the U.S. and the UK.
6. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird”
There are two instances of “free as a bird” in the song, while the song’s title is only used once. Lead singer Ronnie Van Zant sings the lyric “Won’t you fly high, free bird, sure” just before the song’s more than four-minute-long guitar solos and jamming.
“Baby I Love Your Way” and “Free Bird,” both by Peter Frampton, were covered by Will To Power and peaked at number one on the US singles chart in 1988.
7. Oasis, “Songbird”
This song from the band’s fifth album was written by Liam Gallagher, not Noel. The song, which was dedicated to Nicole Appleton of the band All Saints, Liam Gallagher’s future wife, peaked at number three on the U.K. singles chart.
Liam Gallagher sings and plays an acoustic guitar in a tree in London’s Hyde Park for the music video.
8. It’s a Beautiful Day “White Bird”
In the 1970s, “White Bird” was a mainstay of FM Album-Oriented Rock radio. It’s A Beautiful Day was created in 1967 by violinist and singer David LaFlamme and keyboardist Linda LaFlamme.
In December of that year, the San Francisco-based band moved to Seattle to work on their performance. The LaFlammes were unable to return to California due to a lack of funds.
David LaFlamme says that the inspiration for the song originated from him and Linda staring out the window of the attic where they were residing.
“Where the ‘white bird’ thing originated from: We were like trapped birds in that attic,” LaFlamme said on his website. Weather and financial constraints made the situation even more difficult. We were squeezing by on a meager food stipend that had been given to us.
It was an eye-opening event, but in a good manner.” Jefferson Airplane-like vocals can be heard in this tune.
Vanessa-Mae, a violinist from the United Kingdom, re-recorded the song as a “techno-acoustic fusion” in 2001.
9. The Tweets’ “The Birdie Song”
Bar and bat mitzvah events, kids’ birthdays, and Oktoberfest celebrations have all featured the Chicken Dance over the years.
An instrumental novelty tune rendition of “The Birdie Song” was made in 1981 by Henry Hadaway, a UK event producer, with the artists billed as The Tweets (far before Twitter).
In the UK, the polka-like track was published as a single and peaked at number two. Legs & Co. performed “The Birdie Song” with a group of dressed “Tweets” on a BBC “Top of the Pops” show in October 1981.
10. “Bird On The Wire” by Leonard Cohen
Judy Collins, Joe Cocker, The Neville Brothers, and Johnny Cash have all recorded versions of “Bird On The Wire,” published a year before to Leonard Cohen’s.
During his time living in Hydra in Greece, Cohen was inspired to pen the song. There was no electricity on the island when he first arrived.
Cohen watched as phone poles were erected in the area, and birds began to perch on the wire as they did so.
There are a number of steep inclines on the island. Cohen would frequently witness small groups of somewhat drunk men singing and stumbling up the stairs in the middle of the night.
11. Neil Diamond’s song “Skybird.”
While reportedly earning an advance of $1 million each album, Neil Diamond quit Uni (later MCA) Records in 1973.
The soundtrack to the film “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” was his first release for his new record label. The film, which was based on Richard Bach’s best-selling novel, was critically panned and underperformed at the box office.
However, the album won a Grammy for Best Soundtrack Album Motion Picture for Diamond. In the United States, “Skybird” was released as the second single. Nelly Furtado adored this novel, as previously stated.
12. “Birds” by Linda Ronstadt.
Ronstadt takes on this delicate song by Neil Young from his “After the Gold Rush” album and gives it her own unique spin.
A performance at the West Hollywood nightclub, The Troubadour, was used to capture the track’s live elements. Randy Meisner and Glenn Frey—the latter of whom would go on to become the lead singer of the Eagles—are among the band’s members.
In addition, there are excellent harmony vocals from Frey, Henley, Meisner, Moon Martin, and others, including others.
13. Miranda Lambert’s “Bluebird”
This charming 2019 country song features a bluebird as a symbol of pleasure and joy, and the narrator uses the cheery bird to express her own strength. This is one of the best songs with bird in the title I find interesting.
The protagonist of this song strives to maintain a good outlook despite the challenges of aging, working in a field with high levels of competition, and coping with issues in her love life. In her heart, she has a chirpy little bluebird.
14. Sia’s “Bird Set Free”
In the absence of Adele and Rihanna, Australian artist Sia decided to record the self-empowerment anthem she wrote herself.
The narrator of this 2015 pop song is exiting a toxic love relationship in this song. She likens herself to a shattered bird whose wings have been clipped.
She felt that she was unable to sing because of the interpersonal abuse she had previously through. This is one of the songs with bird in the title that I will not forget in a hurry, and it is surely one of my favorites.
15. Imagine Dragons and Coldplay’s “Birds”
That you still have feelings for a person after a breakup doesn’t mean that your relationship with them has come to a close.
It’s a sad song about a lost love, sung by a man who wishes he and his significant other were still together.
It is possible for you and a partner to take different courses in life and end up as strangers, just like birds fly in opposite directions. He hopes that one day they will be able to meet again.
16. Bluebird” by Sara Bareilles
After being dumped via letter, the woman in this 2010 pop ballad and her ragged bluebird of happiness pack up their belongings and prepare to fly away.
She’s been through rejection before and knows what to do. She gains the courage to fly with her bluebird while pretending to be fine to hide her pain.
The heartbroken woman gives herself permission to move on from the failed relationship as they depart.
17. Aaron Neville’s “Bird on a Wire”
It is well knowledge that birds like to perch precariously on electrified telephone wires, however they can do so without getting electrocuted as long as they don’t complete a circuit. It’s a Leonard Cohen cover from 1990.
The narrator’s emotional experience is conveyed through the usage of a bird image. The efforts he makes to show his affection are often less than perfect, and they come at a high cost.
His attempts to connect fall short and leave the narrator feeling inadequate, apologizing, and promising to try harder in the future.
18. Julie Andrews’ “Feed the Birds”
Mary Poppins, Walt Nickelodeon 1964 masterpiece, features a lovely 1964 children’s song. It speaks of an elderly woman who makes additional money by selling tourists bags of bird crumbs on the steps of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, urging onlookers to feed the least among us.
19. “I’m Like a Bird” by Nelly Furtado
Is there any way for him to deny having been warned? In this Grammy Award-winning pop song from 2000, the restless young woman informs her husband that she will one day leave him.
Despite her deep affection for him, the woman realizes that she is a wanderer whose heart has no fixed abode. This rambling woman, like a bird, will eventually fly away.
20. Annie Lennox’s song “Little Bird”
Annie Lennox debuted as a solo artist in 1993 after more than a decade with the Eurythmics. This is a song about a baby bird that has fallen from its nest.
When the narrator describes herself as “simply a tormented soul who’s weighted, weighted to the ground,” she speculates that the small bird may be blessed.
After that, she tries to imitate the bird by letting go of her inhibitions and allowing her dreams to take flight. It wasn’t until Lennox went solo that Eurythmics became a household name.
21. Carly Simon and James Taylor’s “Mockingbird”
Mockingbirds are the loudest nighttime birds you’ve ever heard. The traditional children’s lullaby “Hush Little Baby” features mockingbirds because of their excessive singing behaviors.
The lullaby, in turn, serves as the inspiration for this 1974 pop song, this is one of the best songs bird in the title.
In the song, both participants have committed to buy one another a mockingbird with a sing-or-else clause. A diamond ring will be given to a lover if he or she does not sing to them.
However, because mockingbirds are such loud birds, the rings and other backup plans won’t be required. As a result, the song is about a bunch of hollow promises that the singer will never have to keep as long as the mockingbird stays on course.
22. Aurora’s “Winter Bird”
A mental or existential crisis could be to blame. Aurora, a Norwegian electropop artist, employs a range of environmental visuals to help the narrator reconnect with reality in this light 2016 song. Winter is a time of year when she sits by the river and rehearses her reasons for living.
