Beam was raised outside Columbia, South Carolina, United States where his father worked in land management and his mother was a schoolteacher. He graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a bachelor's degree and the Florida State University Film School with an MFA degree. Until the first Iron & Wine album, Beam's main source of income was as a professor of film and cinematography at the University of Miami and Miami International University of Art & Design. He had been writing songs for over seven years before a friend lent him a four-track recorder. His friends handed out copies of demos that he had made, and the owner of Sub Pop Records personally contacted Beam and proposed a deal.
Beam released his first album, The Creek Drank the Cradle, on the Sub Pop label in 2002; Beam wrote, performed, recorded, and produced every track on the album by himself at a studio in his home. The album features acoustic guitars, banjo, and slide guitar; its music has been compared, variously, to that of Nick Drake, Simon and Garfunkel, Neil Young, Elliott Smith, and Ralph Stanley.
In 2003 The Sea & The Rhythm was released, an EP collecting other home-recorded tracks along the same lines as those on the debut. Beam's second album, Our Endless Numbered Days (2004), was recorded in a professional studio with a significant increase in fidelity. The focus still lies on acoustic material, but the inclusion of other band members gives rise to a very different sound.
Beam released an EP titled Woman King in February 2005, and the EP In the Reins, a collaboration with Calexico was released in September 2005. This joint work mostly features new full-band versions of previously recorded Iron and Wine rarities.
One of his most famous songs is a cover, which was featured on a commercial for M&M’s candies and in the 2004 film “Garden State” (and on its popular soundtrack), of "Such Great Heights" by The Postal Service.
"Kiss Each Other Clean" is the fourth studio album by Iron & Wine, released January 25, 2011. The album's title is taken from the lyrics of track 10, "Your Fake Name Is Good Enough for Me". The album marks a further change in style – in an interview with SPIN magazine, Beam said “It’s more of a focused pop record. It sounds like the music people heard in their parent’s car growing up… that early-to-mid-’70s FM, radio-friendly music."
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Sing Song Bird
Iron & Wine Lyrics
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Singing in other words
Kickin' holes
He told me about you
All the boys are about to play by my rules
And I might not fall
And all the girls want to demonstrate
And in the morning I hear this song
All the boys are about to play by my rules
And I might not fall
And all the girls want to demonstrate
They try to keep you there
And in the morning I hear this song
The lyrics to Iron & Wine's song "Sing Song Bird" are poetic and open to interpretation. The singer is asking for somebody's heart, promising to sing like a songbird in exchange. He mentions "singing in other words," implying that the emotions he wants to convey aren't easily put into language. The line "Kickin' holes, he told me about you" is enigmatic, perhaps suggesting that someone has been gossiping or that a secret has been revealed.
The rest of the lyrics describe a power dynamic in which the singer is in control. "All the boys are about to play by my rules" implies that he's calling the shots and the boys are eager to follow. The repetition of the chorus underscores this theme, and the line "And all the girls want to demonstrate, they try to keep you there" suggests that the singer's power has attracted attention from multiple parties.
Line by Line Meaning
Give me your and I will sing song bird
Offer me your attention and I will sing beautifully, like a bird.
Singing in other words
Expressing myself in a different way.
Kickin' holes
Feeling restless and frustrated.
He told me about you
Someone else has mentioned you.
All the boys are about to play by my rules
I am in control and the boys will do what I say.
And I might not fall
I am confident and may not fail.
And all the girls want to demonstrate
Other girls want to show off in front of me.
They try to keep you there
They try to make you stay in a certain place.
And in the morning I hear this song
I am reminded of this song in the morning.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: SAMUEL BEAM
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Daniel Avila
Give me your shoulder, I'm a sing song bird
My savior says that I'm the words
I map across a daylight blinding you
Chicken-boned and with a 10-cent bunk
Claimed Jesus spoke though I was drunk
Untied my shoe and told me what to do:
"Warn the boys are about the dimmer rooms
That try to woo them all with their cheap perfume
Rooms like this, a pathway to the fall
Warn the girls about the dimmer stars
That try to woo them all with the cheap guitars
The morning fades the glitter on their song
Warn the boys are about the dimmer rooms
That try to woo them all with their cheap perfume
The sun don't sweat the souls that get the call
Warn the girls about the dimmer stars
That try to woo them all with the cheap guitars
Dear Lord, give me the strength to shade you all"
root8angel
Well this song just makes me cozy
SquareOne Re-run
Superb!