White Bird
mad baggins
been the song "White Bird."
I'm glad I have the first LP by SF-area late 60's band It's a
Beautiful Day, solely for the fact that I've always dug the song
"White Bird" from that album.
The original "White Bird" has a rare combination of psychedelic era
hippie trippiness (attributable chiefly to the lyrics, the guitar, and
the Hammond organ) with classical-sounding grace and beauty on the
vocals (lead by David LaFlamme and harmony by Patti Santos) and on the
violin part (David LaFlamme, double tracked).
Off the top of my head, I can't think of another 60's group that used
violin the way it's used on the original "White Bird."
The lyrical hippie trippiness of "White Bird" with its classical-
sounding melodic sense of grace and beauty is to my ear a lot like the
"fluff love" quality of the work of the 70's British prog rock group
Renaissance, another group that sounded classically influenced.
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"White Bird"
(David & Linda LaFlamme)
White bird
in a golden cage
on a winter's day
in the rain.
White bird
in a golden cage,
alone.
The leaves blow
across the long black road
up to the darkened skies,
in its rage
But the white bird just sits in her cage,
alone.
White bird must fly
or she will die.
White bird
dreams of the aspen trees
with their dying leaves,
turning gold.
But the white bird just sits in her cage,
growing old.
White bird must fly or she will die.
White bird must fly or she will die.
The sunsets come and the sunsets go
and the clouds float by and the earth turns slow
and the young bird's eyes do always glow.
She must fly,
She must fly,
She must fly.
White bird
in a golden cage
on a winter's day
in the rain.
White bird
in a golden cage alone.
White bird must fly or she will die.
White bird must fly or she will die.
White bird must fly or she will die.
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In the Strangelings' version of "White Bird," the double-tracked
violin has been replaced mainly by Chris Thompson on flute.
Meredith Thompson pioneered the "White Bird" flute part when the
Strangelings first played the song at the Acoustic Cafe and at Club
Passim.
It surprised the heck out of me when her twin sister Chris took over
the flute-playing role on that song (and on other songs), beginning at
the Guthrie Center show.
There was a new Strangelings flyer, showing the new band members
Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson, in the lobby before the Guthrie Center
show, in which Chris was shown holding a flute.
At first, I thought the flute was just a prop for the purpose of a
publicity shot, since I had never known Chris to play the flute before
that.
But not so! She played beautifully that night, and Chris' flute
playing since then has continued to be so convincing, I've asked her
if she had played flute in school, or had played for years "behind the
scenes." No -- apparently this "hidden talent" has only just recently
been awakened for the purpose of fulfilling this specific role with
the Strangelings, since when Meredith left the group, someone had to
play the flute parts originally played by her. Rather than the group
adding even more Strangelings in addition to R&K, Chris opted to step
up to the plate and start swinging to the beat of a different flute
player!
The original "White Bird" lead vocal by David LaFlamme is powerful-
sounding, quasi-melodramatic, almost operatic, with Patti Santos by
contrast lending a serene angelic sheen on harmony vocal.
Maura, Chris, and Rebecca swing more towards the serene angelic sheen
side on vocals, and not at all towards the more powerful, melodramatic
grand gestures of the more masculine original lead vocal.
So where the original "White Bird" combines an almost rugged-sounding
earthiness with heavenly serene, the Strangelings' "White Bird" is
pure heaven, complete with a heavenly choir of angels in Maura, Chris,
and Rebecca.
The Strangelings' ending of the song is also different.
The Strangelings' "White Bird" sounds great! And it's different
enough from the It's a Beautiful Day original that I can enjoy it on
its own merits, without having to mentally compare it to the previous
version.
notlob
group...I was a freshman at UMass (there was only one back then), my
introduction to stadium concerts was working security for the Spring
concert. This was in the days before steel barriers and mosh pits; my
assignment was "security" between the stage and the crowd, the
security device being a snow fence.
The lineup was a skinny kid from Asbury Park, NJ who did no more than
3 or 4 songs solo; "Cold Blood"; "It's a Beautiful Day". And it was.
"White Bird" back then was an anthem. I am glad the Strangelings
have raised it from the ashes of time and breathed new life into it.