Song of the Caged Bird - Lindsey Stirling Cover
2,232 views · Published 5 March 2013 · 3:39 · Indexed 8 November 2026
Channel: Jon Michael Swift · 2013 · Music
This is my two cents for the Lindsey Stirling Cover contest. I got my days mixed up so I'm submitting this a day late. I won't be shocked if it's not considered for a winning spot, but I'm actually not that concerned about it; this was such a fun and growthful project for me that I'm just glad I did it. Thanks to Lindsey for being such an inspiration and thanks to everyone who pitched in to make the contest interesting. OK, now for the breakdown. I obviously started this with the idea of doing a Lindsey Stirling cover. I've been playing a lot of pluck and chuck guitar lately, so I really wanted to use that in the cover. After messing around with some options, I found I could do a pretty cool reduction of the synthesizer part and the beat, so I thought it would be a good song to go with. Lindsey had pointed to another cover that added lyrics so I thought I'd do something with lyrics. I read the poem that inspired the original track, "I know why the caged bird sings" by Maya Angelou, and I started with the idea of doing the lyrics from the perspective of African Americans. When I started writing though, the lyrics got really dark and I decided I'd rather treat the topic a little more carefully at another time. Another idea I had really wanted to mess with was the opening line from "The Mathnavi." The Mathnavi is a Sufi holy book, and the beginning talks about how the soul remembers that it is from heaven when it hears the sound of the flute. In the end, I took the Mathnavi idea, the Maya Angelou poem and some biblical ideas about the Garden of Eden and got the lyrics you have here.... Every time someone asks me where I'm from, I'm not sure what to say It's not that I lack for an accurate answer, it's just a place I've never seen I don't think it's far from here, I doubt that it's desolate, but I'm not sure there's really much left of it Everyone knows 'bout the day they crossed the river Bags with apples to last them forever and every time that I've heard a bird breaking into song I've got to believe that's kind of thing that they used to sing back home and I know that I know that I know why the caged bird sings it's the closest thing he'll ever get to being free without having actual wings my mother used to say she's haunted by a ghost who'd give her whatever she wanted but she said that they went away back in the winter when she turned in her violin for thousands of splinters but sometimes I wonder, if I could just find a way to wake up the lightbeams if I could look and see them riding their nightwings then maybe they could tell me 'bout really out there? and every time that I've heard a bird break into song I got to believe it's just what they'd sing in a place that I belong and I know that I know why the caged bird makes such a mournful sound He found out the spirits and he knows they can hear it, and that's his only chance of being found there is no way I've found to escape, no healing comes with time cause I'm living inside of a prison that was made up in my mind The lies of this tongue hurt again and again so I'll say this any way that I know you'll understand I hope and I pray, someday they'll hear it and someday they'll take me away That someday I'll see how the melody leads back to where I'm from and I know why the caged bird sings, even when she's alone 'cause the light that will guide her is shining inside is her, and that's her only chance of finding home Part of Jon Michael Swift's Song Engine. Check out the page to ask Jon to write you an original or cover song. http://wp.me/P2lbzX-5L Part of Jon Michael Swift's 10,000 Hour Blog http://songwritersgrooves.wordpress.com/ http://www.facebook.com/JonMichaelSwift http://www.reverbnation.com/jonmichaelswift
