Not fitting current musical trends, Birdeatsbaby's sound is fast-paced with complex drums, and piano / bass / violin generally combined for dramatic / catchy choruses. Like a more hyper-active Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, meets a slightly depressed Freddie Mercury. Descriptions of the band have included: 'an unhinged burlesque brand of freak-pop' and "Twin Peaks on snuff."
Birdeatsbaby leapt to notoriety with the YouTube for Here She Comes-a-Tumblin's lead single "The Trouble..." (Apr 2009, Nothing to See Here), which has received 237K views (as of Oct 2014 - risen from 100K views by mid-2011). The band used their own music video director, their former drummer, Philippa Bloomfield.
In 2010, they released follow-up EP Bigger Teeth, produced by Marc E Norris (of The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster). Birdeatsbaby have toured extensively in the UK, Europe and U.S. – playing with many, inducing: The World/Inferno Friendship Society, Italian band Belladonna, Thomas Truax and prestigious producer Jason Rubal on their album Feast of Hammers (Feb 2012, Dead Round Eyes).
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Seventeen
Birdeatsbaby Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I met a man
Gave him all my dreams
Told him all my plans
Plans to rule the earth
Plans to tear apart
Plans to be the queen
The sorrow is…
When I was seventeen
I met a boy
(and) together we would dream
But always destroy
So in love with his pain
Turning deathly pale
He would always reign
In our fairytale
The sorrow is …
Young and full of pride
We raged and spat and screamed:
"Put out all their eyes
Never let them see"
His heart was always drunk
Pity for the ones
The ones who knew him well
Now I never will
When I was seventeen
He took me in his arms
And he swore on to me
To keep my safe from harm
But everything must end
And everyone must pay
My fairytale friend
He only fades away
When I was seventeen
I met a man
Gave him all my dreams
Told him all my plans
Now I'll never tell
All that I have seen
And we said farewell
When I was seventeen.
The song Seventeen by Birdeatsbaby is a powerful ballad that tells the story of a young woman who falls in love and loses both her dreams and her innocence in the process. The lyrics describe the singer's experience with two different men: one who helped her plan for her future, and another who was in a destructive relationship with her. The chorus "The sorrow is..." is repeated throughout the song, emphasizing the loss and heartbreak the singer feels.
The first man the singer meets when she is seventeen, who she refers to as a "man," is someone she gives all her dreams and plans to. She shares her aspirations to rule the earth and tear it apart, to be queen and to break his heart. The theme of power dynamics and control is prevalent in this section, where the man seems to have a lot of influence over the singer's life.
The second person she meets is a boy, and they fall in love with each other's pain. They become obsessed with destroying those who are around them and turning pale in the process. The boy in the relationship is described as being drunk with his own heart, and his pity for those who know him well, but not for those around him. The overall feeling in these verses is that of a toxic, destructive relationship.
The final verse talks about how the first man took the singer in his arms and promised to keep her safe from harm, but ultimately everything comes to an end. The singer says goodbye to her "fairytale friend" and a chapter of her life is closed. She reflects on never telling anyone about all that she has seen, and the chorus emphasizes the sorrow and loss that she has experienced.
Overall, the lyrics in Seventeen are a poignant exploration of the experience of growing up and losing one's innocence. The themes of power, control, and toxic relationships are explored in a beautiful and heartbreaking way.
Line by Line Meaning
When I was seventeen
At the age of seventeen
I met a man
I encountered a male individual
Gave him all my dreams
I presented him with all my aspirations
Told him all my plans
I disclosed to him all my objectives
Plans to rule the earth
Desires to rule over the entire planet
Plans to tear apart
Ideas to dismantle
Plans to be the queen
Aim to become the queen
Of his broken heart
Of his shattered emotional state
The sorrow is…
The sadness lies in the following verse
When I was seventeen
At the age of seventeen
I met a boy
I encountered a male individual
Together we would dream
We used to imagine things jointly
But always destroy
But we would always ruin what we had pictured
So in love with his pain
So infatuated with the agony he experienced
Turning deathly pale
Becoming extremely pale in color
He would always reign
He would perpetually dominate
In our fairytale
In our make-believe world
The sorrow is …
The sadness lies in the following verse
Young and full of pride
Juvenile and excessively proud
We raged and spat and screamed:
We were raging, spitting and shouting
"Put out all their eyes
Make them all blind
Never let them see"
Never allow them to see
His heart was always drunk
His heart was always intoxicated
Pity for the ones
Sympathy for those individuals
The ones who knew him well
Those people who really understood him
Now I never will
Now I never shall
When I was seventeen
At the age of seventeen
He took me in his arms
He embraced me
And he swore on to me
And he made a promise to me
To keep my safe from harm
To ensure my safety
But everything must end
Everything must come to a conclusion
And everyone must pay
And every person needs to face the consequences
My fairytale friend
My friend from the imaginary world
He only fades away
He just disappears gradually
Now I'll never tell
I will never divulge
All that I have seen
Everything that I have witnessed
And we said farewell
And we said goodbye
When I was seventeen.
At the age of seventeen
Contributed by Tyler M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@florian066
Brilliant song, I'm in love with this band. Can't stop listening to Birdeatsbaby!
@Asphyxiadyslexia
I fall more in love with Mishkin and Birdeatsbaby the more I listen to them! <3
@ThirdandfinalBEast
Great song! I love it!