Kat Flint is a Scottish singer-songwriter born in Barbados and raised in Ab… Read Full Bio ↴Kat Flint is a Scottish singer-songwriter born in Barbados and raised in Aberdeen. Her first album, Dirty Birds was released in 2008.

The child of research scientists and born in Barbados, Flint was raised in Aberdeen. At the age of 18 she moved to Edinburgh to study, where she joined the city's acoustic scene and formed the band Gingergreen. She was an original member of the Edinburgh Sound Collective and also spent six months singing and playing percussion with folk group Scuff. In 2004 she moved to London.

Debut release The Secret Boy’s Club was recorded in a living room on a shoestring, with an ear for a good tune, a mischievous sense of fun and an ever-expanding arsenal of playschool instruments (and cardboard boxes), it’s a slice of the good, old-fashioned lyrical wrapped in the home-made whimsical.

Flint was the winner of the inaugural New Lyric Award, presented by Ray Davies and Channel 4’s Ideasfactory, and spent March 2006 touring with Rough Trade’s folk darlings Cara Dillon and Sam (“brother-of-Seth”) Lakeman, playing 16 dates across the UK as chief tour support.

She released singles, 'Go Faster Stripes' (December 2007) and 'Christopher, You're A Soldier Now' (April 2008), which preceded her debut album Dirty Birds, which was released on the 15th of September, 2008 (after a limited edition run that was hand-produced by Flint in mid-2007).

In 2009, Flint formed the band Shipwreckers for live shows, featuring two members of London indie-rock band Revere – Nicholas Hirst (guitar; piano; accordion; percussion) and Kathleen McKie (cello) – and her former bandmate Andrew Thompson (bass; vocals; percussion).

http://www.myspace.com/katflint

Birthday
Kat Flint Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Mmmm...

We will write you down
We will build you in words
Love a pen-and-paper girl
We're not drunk but we'll see double on your birthday

Mmmm...

Settle down in our thoughts
We will make them your bed
It's the warmest place that I know
You'll be safe and we'll see double on your birthday

And oh
Blow the candles out for luck
Now you're home
We will love you twice as much

Mmmm...

What can I say when I was so far away?
Oh, we're strangers still
But today is a good day for dreaming
And our time will be your time as well
Time as well

Your time will come
Your time will come

Blow the candles out for luck
Now you're home
We will love you twice as much

And oh, you know we really should have met
Hold a mirror to the world and maybe we might see you yet

Overall Meaning

The opening lines of Kat Flint's "Birthday" talk about writing someone down and building them in words. The song is about celebrating the birthday of someone special who is far away. The lyrics go on to talk about how the warmest place that the singer knows is in her thoughts and how that someone special will be kept safe there. The chorus of the song talks about blowing the candles out for luck and how the singer and her loved ones will love that special someone twice as much now that they are home.

There is a sense of melancholy in the song, particularly when the singer talks about being strangers and not having met yet. She holds the mirror to the world and hopes that they might see that special someone yet. There is a dream-like quality to the song as well, which fits well with the idea of dreaming of someone far away on their birthday. The song captures the essence of missing someone who cannot be there to celebrate with you, but still wanting to make that person feel loved and appreciated.

Line by Line Meaning

We will write you down
We will immortalize you in words

We will build you in words
We will create an image of you through writing

Love a pen-and-paper girl
Someone who values the written word

We're not drunk but we'll see double on your birthday
We'll be filled with joy and happiness on your special day

Settle down in our thoughts
Make yourself comfortable in our minds

We will make them your bed
Our thoughts will become a place of rest for you

It's the warmest place that I know
Our thoughts are filled with love and warmth for you

You'll be safe and we'll see double on your birthday
You'll feel secure and loved, and we'll be twice as happy on your special day

Blow the candles out for luck
Blow out the candles and make a wish for good fortune

Now you're home
You're in a place of love and belonging

We will love you twice as much
Our love for you has only grown stronger