All The Birds Have Flown

Album: The Singles Collection (2008)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "All The Birds Have Flown" was an outtake from the band's 2007 album Roots & Echoes. Frontman James Skelly explained on his record label's website why it wasn't originally included on the album: "I'd written it quite early on during the album sessions and I really wish we'd put it on the album to be honest and I'm quite gutted that we didn't. It was written as this weird kind of Leonard Cohen song, we got it together quickly, it sounded good in the batch of first tunes for the LP and we did a demo and it sounded good, we recorded it with Ian Broudie and then with [producer] Craig [Silvey], which is the version on The Singles Collection. We just over listened to it and because of that it never made the album and it's better than some of the songs on it. I wanted it to be a single but it didn't get a great reaction (laughs)."
  • Skelly explained that the story told in the song is similar to "Eleanor Rigby" by fellow Liverpool band the Beatles. He said: "The story is like Eleanor Rigby. It's about this woman in Liverpool who fed the pigeons and she'd talk to herself and I'd think is she there or am I the only one who sees her. The image stuck in my head."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie Combination

Stand By Me: The Perfect Song-Movie CombinationSong Writing

In 1986, a Stephen King novella was made into a movie, with a classic song serving as title, soundtrack and tone.

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real Group

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real GroupSong Writing

The leader of the Modern A Cappella movement talks about the genre.

Jeff Trott

Jeff TrottSongwriter Interviews

Sheryl Crow's longtime songwriting partner/guitarist Jeff Trott reveals the stories behind many of the singer's hits, and what its like to be a producer for Leighton Meester and Max Gomez.

Michael Schenker

Michael SchenkerSongwriter Interviews

The Scorpions and UFO guitarist is also a very prolific songwriter - he explains how he writes with his various groups, and why he was so keen to get out of Germany and into England.

Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Wainwright IIISongwriter Interviews

"Dead Skunk" became a stinker for Loudon when he felt pressure to make another hit - his latest songs deal with mortality, his son Rufus, and picking up poop.

Little Big Town

Little Big TownSongwriter Interviews

"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."