Bird on the Wire is a song by Leonard Cohen from his 1969 album Songs From a Room. It is one of my favourite early Cohen songs and one of his signature tracks. Leonard was living on an island called Hydra in Greece which didn’t have any electricity and then suddenly they erected these telephone poles and wires and Leonard found himself staring at these wires and thinking how the modern world had caught up with him and he wasn’t going to be able to escape after all. Soon birds came to wires and that’s what inspired him to write the song. He said, Bird on the Wire was begun in Greece and finished in a motel in Hollywood around 1969.
Marianne Ihlen (who became the subject of Leonard Cohen’s 1967 track ‘So Long Marianne’) lived with Leonard on Hydra and related how she helped him out of depression by handing him his guitar, whereupon he began composing “Bird on the Wire”.
It’s a beautifully written song which is profoundly honest and simple in its delivery, but strangely Leonard had problems recording it, because he felt it didn’t sound ‘honest’ enough. So 4 days before the the final recording session, he asked for everyone to leave the studio except for essential staff. He said “I just knew that at that moment something was about to take place.” Leonard has described the song as a ‘simple country song’.
References:
1. Song facts – Bird on the Wire
2. Bird on the Wire – wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
a great human soul, he has opened the doors to Heaven with his words, amen
What a vivid description of Leonard. Thank you.
This was one of my introductions to him song wise. Great song.
I think it was one of my first songs of his as well. Funny, the song just reminded me of Bukowski’s ‘8 count’ which begins with birds on a wire, but the message couldn’t be any different from Leonard’s. LOL
8 Count.
from my bed
I watch
3 birds
on a telephone
wire.
one flies
off.
then
another.
one is left,
then
it too
is gone.
my typewriter is
tombstone
still.
and I am
reduced to bird
watching.
just thought I’d
let you
know,
fucker.
I know I’ve heard this song before….but I can’t remember where or how long ago.
It made me a little sad.
I like the fact that his little paradise is changing and he feels like he has nowhere to go to have “peace” but instead of the entire song being about him feeling sorry for himself, he confesses his flaws and asks people’s forgiveness for them. Very touching.
Omg, Matt! I’m a total Bukowski fan! Okay, well, I shouldn’t exaggerate. I never got into his poetry. Only ready the novels. But this poem above and the ending….ha ha ha. So completely his voice in just a few words.
I love your breakdown of Bird on a Wire. Yes, it can feel quite melancholy. But that’s Leonard…hehe
That’s fantastic to read you’re a Bukowski fan. I’ve read most of his novels and some of his poetry. I know he had a big influence on Tom Waits.
Okay, yeah, it’s official. Your posts are NOT showing up anywhere in my feeds anymore. You’ve posted like a week;s worth of stuff. I’m just going to re-follow and see if that kick-starts everything again……..
NO problem Stacey. I hope it all works itself out. I also hope you had a good weekend!
It worked! This reply popped up in the email.
So weird.
I hate computers, lol ! ! !
Talk to you soon,
Just admit it, you’re a computer wiz!
Yeah, if a Luddite is a compute wiz, that’s exactly what I am, ha ha ha!