Short Story

Oh, how nerdy he was. She’d watched him from a distance in the book shop as he clumsily tried to take yet another book from the “Love & Relationships: Self-Help”-shelf. Sitting in the corner, drinking her skinny Chai-Latte, she couldn’t help but giggle. As he struggled more and more with carrying his large assortment of books about “How to find the perfect woman”, or “Marriage psychology for beginners” she decided to walk over to him and offer some help. And of course, just when she was right behind him, he had to turn around, trip over his own feet, knock her drink out of her hand and all over her fancy, white dress. So that’s what you get for trying to be friendly, she thought.

They told this story of their first meeting at numerous dinner parties. Especially Anne’s now- parents-in-law loved this story. They were over joyous about their son marrying her. And guess how glad they were about their first grandchild! And the second one. And the third one, too. Maybe they had just never expected their nestling, their shy little kid, their chemistry student, to actually find a woman willing to be with him, at all. But Anne really loved him. Although Paul most definitely wasn’t her “preference prey”, he’d still intrigued her with his weird hair-cut and geeky way of talking. She didn’t mind tossing her dreams about an acting career in the trash and settling down in the suburbs with him and the children. She’d be an awesome mum to her kids and a perfect wife for her husband. They were even planning to get a dog, or a cat, because their youngest daughter Lilly really loved animals. Maybe for her next birthday? She would absolu…

KNOCK, KNOCK!

“Anne? Are you sleeping? What the… it’s the last show tonight and the star-actress is sleeping, hahaha, I can’t believe it!”

She woke up on the couch in her dressing room. “Oh god, Richard, I was dreaming that I’m still with that idiot Paul and we even had three kids, can you imagine?? What a nightmare. Did the play start already? Am I running late?”

“No, it’s all right; you’ve got a couple of minutes to get ready. As if anybody cares about the play, anyway, they just wanna see you, darling, so of course we’re not going to start without you.”

Anne got up from the couch and went over to the mirror to refresh her makeup once more. This last performance tonight, and then it’s off to New York for a holiday with Richard. This was exactly the jet-set live she was always hoping to live one day! All her college friends, stuck at home with their snotty brats now, surely envy her when they saw her on the magazine covers. She was so glad she hadn’t become one of those unsatisfied all-American housewives.

And yet, even after the performance and the holiday, that dream about Paul kept on running through her head again and again…

Florence + the machine

Florence + the machine

“Bird Song”

Well I didn't tell anyone but a bird flew by
he saw what I’d done, he set up a nest outside

 and he sang about what I'd become 

 He sang so loud, sang so clear

I was afraid all the neighbours would hear
so I invited him in just to reason with him
I promised I wouldn't do it again

But he sang louder and louder inside the house
and now I couldn't get him out
so I trapped him under a cardboard box
stood on it to make it stop
I picked up the bird and above the din
I said “that's the last song you'll ever sing!”

Held him down, broke his neck
taught him a lesson he wouldn't forget

But in my dreams began to creep

the old familiar

‘tweet tweet tweet’

I opened my mouth to scream and shout
and I waved my arms and flapped about
but I couldn't scream and I couldn't shout
couldn't scream and I couldn't shout

I opened my mouth to scream and shout
and I waved my arms and flapped about
but I couldn't scream and I couldn't shout
the song was coming from my mouth

from my mouth 

 from my mouth

from my mouth

from my mouth…

Thesis

The song “Bird Song” by the band “Florence and the machine” makes me feel intrigued about the theme of guilt and its suppression/admission because the applied storyline and setting convey the different stages of committing a crime, trying to cover it up and finally admitting to it in a very sober, down-to-earth, and yet poetic way.

The song evokes feelings of empathy and being frightened at the same time. The listener is not lengthily introduced to the story, but thrown right into it. The setting and story itself are sort of unreal and creepy and still have a certain beauty to it.

“Bird Song” illustrates the theme of having a guilty conscience in an unconventional way because of the author’s use of original imagery and alternative songwriting style.

Questions

1. Can you make out a leitmotif in the song? What are the prevailing imageries?

2. Why do you think did the songwriter choose the image of a ‘bird’?

3. Does the song intend to convey a message, or does it just tell a story?

4. Do you think the pace of the song is consistent throughout, or does it change? How does it support the storyline?

5. What do you think about the lack of conventional song features, such as recurring choruses and rhymes? Why was this structure chosen for the song?

6. Can you make out a narrative arc in the song? How does the storyline develop?

7. What sort of tone/mood/atmosphere is created in the song? How?

8. Do you view the speaker as a positive or negative character? Do you think the speaker in the song is relieved or anxious at the end of the song?