Joanna Caroline Newsom is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actr… Read Full Bio ↴Joanna Caroline Newsom is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actress. Born and raised in Northern California, Newsom was classically trained on the harp in her youth and began her musical career as a keyboardist in the San Francisco-based indie band The Pleased.

After recording and self-releasing two EPs in 2002, Newsom was signed to the independent label Drag City. Her debut album, The Milk-Eyed Mender, was released in 2004 to critical acclaim and garnered Newsom an underground following. She would receive wider exposure with the release of Ys (2006), which charted at number 134 on the Billboard 200.

She released two further albums: Have One on Me (2010) and Divers (2015), the latter of which outsold all of her previous albums. Newsom has been noted by critics for her unique musical style, sometimes characterized as psychedelic folk, and for her prominent use of harp instrumentation. She has also appeared as an actress with roles in the television series Portlandia and in the 2014 film Inherent Vice.

bridges
Joanna Newsom Lyrics

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We sailed away on a winter's day
With fate as malleable as clay
But ships are fallible, I say
And the nautical, like all things fades
And I can recall our caravel
A little wicker beetle shell
With four fine maste and lateen sails
Its bearings on cair paravel

Oh my love
Oh it was a funny little thing
To be
The ones
To've seen

The sight of bridges and balloons
Makes calm canaries irritable
And they caw and claw all afternoon
Catenaries and dirigibles
Brace and bouoy the living room
A loom of metals warp woof wimble
And a thimbles worth of milky moon
Can touch hearts larger than a thimble

Oh my love
Oh it was a funny little thing
To be
The ones
To've seen

Oh my love

Oh it was a funny little thing
It was a funny funny little thing

Overall Meaning

"Bridges and Balloons" is a song by American singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom, released in 2004. The song tells the story of a winter sailing journey that is full of uncertainty and risk. Newsom remembers the funny things that she saw during the trip and the emotions that these experiences evoked in her.

The first verse describes how they embarked on the journey with the sense that anything could change. She compares fate to being as malleable as clay, suggesting that it could be formed in any way. However, the second line of the verse introduces the idea that ships are fallible, and that nautical things, like all things, are subject to fading.

The second verse explores the sense of magic and wonder that can be evoked by simple things like a caravel. Newsom describes how the caravel was like a little beetle shell, powered by a few simple sails. The mention of cair paravel references the imaginary land from C.S. Lewis' book "The Chronicles of Narnia", suggesting that the caravel was a vessel that could take her anywhere.

The chorus of the song is a reflection on the beauty of the world around her, and how it can provoke such strong reactions in people. Newsom describes how even seemingly peaceful scenes, like bridges and balloons, can make birds irritable, and how they can cause people to feel both joy and sadness. The final lines of the chorus emphasize how even small things, like a thimble's worth of moonlight, can touch hearts larger than a thimble.

Overall, the song celebrates the beauty and mystery of the world, and the way that simple things can evoke such strong emotions in people.

Line by Line Meaning

We sailed away on a winter's day
We embarked on a voyage during winter

With fate as malleable as clay
Our destiny was flexible and changeable

But ships are fallible, I say
However, ships are not infallible

And the nautical, like all things fades
Maritime things, like everything else, become obsolete

And I can recall our caravel
I remember our small ship

A little wicker beetle shell
It was a tiny boat made of woven beetle casings

With four fine maste and lateen sails
It had four excellent masts and triangular sails

Its bearings on cair paravel
It was headed to Cair Paravel

The sight of bridges and balloons
Bridges and balloons are an entertaining sight

Makes calm canaries irritable
However, it disturbs even the peaceful canaries