The Black-capped Chickadee sings these noteheads three—B, A, and E. When he says “fee bee”, he sings a B to an A, and the chorus of his namesake falls on an E. Drag over the notes below.
We wanted to cover this guy’s song, but didn’t know where the royalties should go. Is the chickadee public domain, or is he contracted to one of the Big 3? Pretty soon they’ll be paving paradise and selling sunny days through some sort of sunny day real estate franchise company.
Inspired by Nirvana’s “(New Wave) Polly” (the acoustic halfway point on Nevermind that became just another punk song on Incesticide), the simple 3-note song of the black-capped chickadee is given the new wave treatment in “Chickadee (New Wave)”, meaning there’s a disco beat somewhere in there and keyboards galore. The spontaneous and freewheeling nature of birdsong is reflected in the New Wave version, as bird language is sung loosely over an aurora of suspended strings and guitar feedback, and the feel of the music flutters from chorus to chorus as if trying out different perches, before alighting on the final coda swing.
The original math thrash of the Boird Band cover is revisited towards the end of the song. When chickadees say their name, you can bet they mean business. The number of dee’s refers to the nature of the danger. And “fee bee” means the same thing in any language. The language of the birds is the language of music.
He’s trying to say, “I love you.” But she is silent. She can’t sing back. There is no sweet harmony. We’re not wrens. Tis but a stag song.
