Talk:Birdhouse In Your Soul

Hammond organ

Is it just me or is the lead instrument in this song, (beside the guitar), a Hammond organ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Desck (talk • contribs) 22:14, July 26, 2004

Sheet Music

If anyone would happen to have keyboard sheet music for this, that'd be greatly appreciated. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.112.147.25 (talk) 22:30, September 30, 2005

I have several versions for tuned percussion (specifically steel pans) but if they are any help to you please get in touch. Dr Raygun 23 Feb 2015

UPDATE - I now have the official sheet music which can be purchased here on ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Birdhouse-In-Your-Soul-Music-Vault-Flansburgh-J-Linnell-J-MV00004449-/140719174576?hash=item20c38433b0:m:mEgKA44ZxvgG1HoUsefta4g 24 October 2017 Bestest Rx

Running Time

Hey, anybody know why the running time for this song is listed differently on this page and on Flood? I know it's only a one second difference, but I'd like to get it right for accuracy's sake. The track on my copy of Flood, which I downloaded from Wal-Mart has it at 3:20 with no gap between the tracks. I'm just looking to clarify this, so if anyone could wither explain a reason behind it, or confirm that it's a mistake/typo for me, I'd sure appreciate it. — User:ACupOfCoffee@ 18:51, 21 Nov 2005 (EST)

I just put my CD in my computer here and it says 3 minutes and 20 seconds. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.78.76.136 (talk) 19:55, November 21, 2005

I bought the CD album. Audacity tells me it's 3 minutes and 20.698776 seconds long. -- TheBlunderbuss 14:14, 30 Jun 2006 (MDT)

Myspace Artwork

Should we upload the myspace artwork for birdhouse? I've been uploading them for most of the other songs, but mainly because we don't have screenshots for those. Since we do have birdhouse screenshots from the video, is it worth adding this image? --Duke33 15:51, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

This comment is gold in 2022. --MisterMe (talk) 15:01, 3 February 2022 (EST)

Karaoke

I was really pleasantly surprised to see that this track was offered at a local bar's karaoke night. I quickly signed up, and the version they had was even pretty good. I guess Birdhouse has proliferated culture more than Ana Ng or Don't Let's Start (which I thought I might find instead). --Wetreplies 03:01, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

I sang this at the karaoke session at the Sci Fi Ball, 8th February 2015. The title was incorrectly listed as 'Make a Little Birdhouse in Your Soul" but was in the correct (and somewhat difficult key for ladies!) key of Cmajor. - Dr Raygun 23 Feb 2015

Lyrics

Um... Why did the lyric on the lyrics page get edited to say 'Keep the nightlight on' instead of 'Leave the nightlight on'? Not only is it obvious that Linnell is singing 'leave', but it even says so in the Flood liner notes. --McBob 17:18, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

Well I happened to agree at that moment with the anonymous person who edited the lyric at the Recursion page. I listened through once and thought it was "keep." Liner notes aren't the deciding factor for a song's lyric page here. Are you sure it's "leave"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Magbatz (talk • contribs) 13:27, October 20, 2007

I am, but I guess there's no way to tell for sure. It's even hard to tell how Linnell lip-syncs the word in the video. But I do know that's what sung during live performances. --McBob 00:01, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

After a couple more listens, I'm still on the side of "keep." Is there a third party who would like to add something? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Magbatz (talk • contribs) 20:29, October 20, 2007

I am going for 'keep'. jkl 11:08, August 29, 2008

My vote's for keep! --༺𝄞𝄆Ⓠⓤⓔⓛ⎈Ⓓⓞⓜⓜⓐⓖⓔ𝄇༻ 22:21, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure I heard a "k". I think it's keep. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.52.51.59 (talk) 18:22, December 22, 2011

I've known it was "keep" ever since the first time I listened to it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Flansfan (talk • contribs) 22:23, December 6, 2012

I'm pretty sure it's "leave," dudes. It's as clear as day. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.148.19.66 (talk) 21:39, March 11, 2013

Definitely "keep"! Dr Raygun 19/9/2013

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson on the DVD

I am really much too young to remember the early years of Jay Leno/the late years of Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, but I must say that my favorite performance of any live song ever (I don't count Why Does The Sun Shine? anymore because the 'live' version is just the 'regular' version to me, but if I were to count it I would say they would be tied anyway) has to be when they performed Birdhouse In Your Soul on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Quite often I pop in my Gigantic DVD just to watch it. --ArAn 08:37, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Pitchfork 500

Here's the review of Birdhouse In Your Soul found in "The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide To The Greatest Songs From Punk To The Present". It can be found on pages 90,92 (author Rob Mitchum)

Nowadays, synthesizers have renovated their image enough to be seen as instruments of cool, a sly nod to a fashionable retro-futurist past. Yet this redrafting of history washes away the subset of synth culture where the instrument was the musical symbol of nerdiness- Casio enthusiasts as demographic overlap with physics majors and Trekkies. "Birdhouse In Your Soul" portrays the forgotten world where synth players were more like Bill Gates than Brandon Flowers, basement experimentalists toying with MIDI patches and built-it-yourself Moogs. Sure, there’s a mathy guitar in there, but the rest of the song is a pure slice of early keyboardtech: a tone that approximates an organ like Pong approximated tennis; a stiff, metallic drum machine; and-yikes, is that supposed to be a trumpet during the bridge? Even the lyrics, focused as they are on Argonauts and the Longines Symphonette (a name for old Texas instruments calculators), are every bit as dweeby as the song's creators, who are always at their best when they let their geek flag fly. Maybe "Birdhouse In Your Soul" is a high school yearbook photo the synthesizer would rather forget, but for the rest of us it’s a welcome reminder of the instruments awkward phase.

I had some spare time at work, so I typed it up. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jadeybeans (talk • contribs) 13:38, November 9, 2008

Cool...thanks for the write-up Jade! --Duke33 19:16, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, thanks for typing this out... but seriously, how terrible is Pitchfork? They can't even praise this song without insulting it. This is just an amazing song- period, and doesn't need these apologies for being recorded using "unfashionable" instruments. --Oddjob 22:21, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

No kidding...and they had to get the "nerd" / "geek" thing in there twice, no less. The whole article reeks of a back-handed compliment towards the band. --Duke33 17:24, 10 November 2008 (UTC)

It's funny how when I call someone a "dork"/"geek"/"nerd" I mean it as a compliment, but things like this (especially since we know the band doesn't appreciate being called such) come off as borderline offensive and derogatory. --MichelleMaBelle 18:39, 10 November 2008 (UTC)

I like they used "dweeby", I'm not sure if that ones been thrown around in a while. I need to read some more of that book, see if they're as complimentary to the other 499 songs.--Jade 01:26, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

Hallmark Greeting Card

I saw this Hallmark card, while shopping for my wife's birthday a couple of weeks ago. Out of all of the songs in the world to choose from, I must say I'm pretty impressed you can buy a card with "Birdhouse In Your Soul"! (Even if it costs 6 bucks) --Duke33 19:26, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

Rats, that link is long dead and probably unrecoverable. I really wanna see that card now! --MisterMe (talk) 15:01, 3 February 2022 (EST)

Electronic Istanbul

When I watched this after watching the video for Electronic Istanbul (Not Constantinople), I was struck by the resemblance, at least in the "I'm your only friend..." part. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.52.51.59 (talk) 18:26, December 22, 2011

Praise

I love this song! I cry every time I think about it, and every time I see a nightlight! Does this happen to anyone else? --Flansfan 12:14, 26 December 2012 (EST)

WhoSampled

According to WhoSampled, the intro is similar to "Summer in the City" by The Lovin' Spoonful, about 2 minutes in. Anyone want to say their opinion on this? - invisiblehippo97 22:10, December 5, 2014

It's the middle section not the intro. Flans plays the part which is at 1:11 on this vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m648v4s5sFc compare with 2:02 here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CVZo11H034

In the Flood 33 1/3 book the Johns talk about how hot the summer was in 1989 as they were recording Flood and how that influenced Birdhouse. Dr Raygun 23 Feb 2015

Key Change

I noticed the key was different in the Live in Australia version. It has been raised a whole tone to D major (the original is in C major) which I though was rather odd considering most folk lose a few high notes on the top of their range as they get older so I thought maybe they had lowered it until I checked with a keyboard. Also, can anyone tell me why this is listed on the main page as being in E flat? Is there another versions in Eflat or is that an error? Dr Raygun 23 Feb 2015

Part of the song is in Eb and part is in C. ~ veggieman 18:19, 23 February 2015 (EST)

The song uses various tonal centres; there is detailed description of these in the Flood 33 1/3 book. However the overall key of the original song is C major. The Live in Australia version is transposed up a whole tone in to D major. Dr Raygun 24 Feb 2015

just fyi, this song is always up a whole step when played live. the only time i know of that it was performed in C/Eb was at its debut. -- 04:18, 24 February 2015 (EST)

Thanks Antgeth, I never noticed before. I wonder why they changed it? Dr Raygun 24 Feb 2015

Jason and the Argonauts

I just wondered why the info about the possible connection to the 1963 film was taken down - Quinn? There are much more tentative links in the trivia section relating to songs that name-check the "blue-bird of happiness" (not even the "blue-bird of friendliness") but those remain. I thought that the lines from the film which connect Jason and the Argonauts to "some-one friendly [...] watching over us" was just too great a coincidence and possibly pointed to the workings of Linnell's mind, maybe a half-remembered or subconscious memory of seeing the film as a small boy.

My original addition:

In the 1963 film "Jason and the Argonauts" Argo (the shipbuilder) justifies his decision to face the figure-head backwards towards the ship rather than forwards out to sea with the line "It makes me feel like some-one friendly is watching over us". Dr Raygun 24 October 2017

The Greatest Song Ever Written.

Without a doubt. —Preceding unsigned comment added by ASelfCalledL (talk • contribs) 01:17, February 22, 2018‎