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Artist: They Might be Giants
Song: Birds Fly
Album: Miscelaneous T (Ep)
Intro:
|7---10--------10-----------------------7----10--------10---------|
|7---8---------8------------------------7----8---------8----------|
|7---7---------7------------------------7----7---------7----------|
|0--------------------------------------0-------------------------|
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Verse 1:
Gm7 Am7 F Gm7
Birds fly into my windshield
Gm7 Am7 F
Thoughts fall from my thoughts
Gm7 Am7 Eb9 D9
This good luck charm hanging off of my arm
Bb7 A7
Was left here by the police
Verse 2:
Words fall out of my pockets
And cats under my feet
This colorful spell under which I live
Protects me from all I write
Chorus:
E B7 E B7
And the microscope reveals the scope of my very best intentions
E B7
very best intentions
E B7
Yes the tiny light shines twice as bright
E B7
On the only nice part of me
Bridge: F & C chords...
Verse 1:
Birds fly into my windshield
Thoughts fall from my thoughts
This good luck charm hanging off of my arm
Was left here by the police
Chorus:
And the microscope reveals the scope of my very best intentions
very best intentions
Yes the tiny light shines twice as bright
On the only nice part of me
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Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques
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No Picture
Gabe Average |
#1 by Gabe Hawkins at Jul 13, 1970 at 5:43 PM EST |
| it is about censorship. He is a writer, who is being censored. He trys to write clean books but they turn out bad. "Birds fly into my windshield"- no one likes his books. "Thoughts fall from my thoughts"- people find other, evil meanings in his books. "This good luck charm hanging off my arm was left here by the police"- the police are trying to censor him. "Words fall out of my pockets"- people are finding things in his books at he did not mean. and cats dance under my feet"- no cats are holding his tongue. "This colorful spell under which I live protects me from all I write"- he doesn't know it is bad. "And the microscope reveals the scope of my very best intentions"-If you look close you see he is not trying to write bad stuff. "Yes, the tiny light shines twice as bright on the only nice part of me"- and you will find that is a nice guy. | |
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No Picture
Jake Average |
#2 by Jake m at Oct 2, 1970 at 7:13 AM EST |
| As for the line "birds fly, into my windshield", it is a good example of the kind of bait-and-switch game TMBG likes to play with their imagery. It's characterized by a positive image (Birds fly), sometimes followed by a pause but then followed by a twist (...into my windshield). See the song "Twisting In The Wind" for another good example of this. | |
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No Picture
MysticCat Wanna Be |
#3 by MysticCat (Janis *johnny* Udodovs) at Jul 28, 1976 at 10:09 PM EST |
| ah, i forgot: "words fall out from my pockets" either a cat caught this man's tongue, or more likely, he rambles randomly with poor excuses and alibies under the police investigation. the cats dancing under his feet may be the police questioning him or investigating the situation in depth. (police man's act to investigate = cat's act of being curious) "this colorful spell under which I live protects me from all i write." its fitting that this is in the same verse as "words fall out of my pockets". perhaps the narrator realizes his mistakes of saying too much and now he is using the colorful spell which protects him- the fifth amendmen. | |
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No Picture
Colin Wanna Be |
#4 by Colin Gauld at May 22, 1978 at 11:24 PM EST |
| hmm. I believe this oldie is about getting busted. i'm not sure what the "good luck charm" is, perhaps it is refering to handcuffs hanging from the narrator's wrist. we will never know the reason why this person got arrested, but the use of forensics got him busted for something. -"And the microscope reveals the scope Of my very best intentions (best intentions)". The event of a bird flying into somebody's windshield is a sad yet often unavoidable situation. perhaps the narrator felt that he could not avoid doing this, and the thoughts falling from his thoughts means that he had no idea what he was thinking when he did this. the tiny lights could be flashlights or interrogation lights shining directly upon this man's face, for he is in police custody. | |
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No Picture
Athena-beana-fo Average |
#5 by Athena-beana-fo-feena -katrina-gina-go-zeena-fe-fi-fo...ATHENA at Sep 24, 1994 at 5:34 AM EST |
| Perhaps it's getting bisted and selling out your friends to avoid the rap. "The colorful spell..." being a plea bargain. But he feels bad and his karma is screwed up because of it. | |
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No Picture
isaac Average |
#6 by isaac fritsch at Nov 9, 1995 at 3:23 PM EST |
| I found meaning simular to PlutoniumBoss's, I think its someone who realizes he isnt a good person, and knows he should feel guilty about it but doesnt. So he down plays the seriousness and nastyness of the things he does with things like the cheerful tone to which the lyrics are sung. He wouldnt say hes been resisting arrest, and made a lucky get away, he'd say he was given a lucky charm. He wouldnt say he stomps cats to death, he'd say they dance around his feet. and he cant help it if birds fly into his windshield, he just happened to swerve and... well, maybe I've seen Clockwork Orange too many times but thats what it seemed like to me. I refer you to PlutB above for the narrators minimal 'good intentions' and his 'best part'. oh, and as for the things he writes, I always thought that was a reference to grafiti. The colorfull spell, is his rose colored glasses take on the things he does. | |
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No Picture
JustiN Professional |
#7 by JustiN at Mar 14, 2005 at 5:29 AM EST |
| (("And the microscope reveals the scope of my very best intentions"-If you look close you see he is not trying to write bad stuff. "Yes, the tiny light shines twice as bright on the only nice part of me"- and you will find that is a nice guy.)) An interesting interpretation, but this part doesn't fit the lyrics. At all. If a microscope shows the entirety of somebody's best intentions, there can't be very many good intentions there. And if a tiny light can shine brightly on the only nice part of him, the singer of this song must not have very much of a nice part. | |
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