Regina Spektor’s “Two Birds” Lyrics Meaning
There have been various explanations offered as to the meaning of “Two Birds”. And perhaps the reason why there isn’t a consensus is because the lyrics are, to some degree, highly symbolic. For instance, it’s safe to assume that the vocalist isn’t actually singing about “two birds” but rather two people.
Furthermore, it is obvious that they are in some type of a close relationship. And it wouldn’t be unreasonable to presume that said relationship is romantic in nature. However, considering that the vocalist does refer to both parties using male pronouns, such probably isn’t the case.
NOTE: Despite the above being said, we still can’t confidently rule out a romantic relationship. It is important to take note of that.
And once you overcome the temptation of overanalyzing the lyrics, the featured narrative is actually quite simple. The two birds are likely besties, i.e. possessing the type of association in which one is not compelled to make a power move without the other.
And in this scenario, said power move can be ascertained as being akin to relocating. Or viewed alternatively, in the eyes of one of these characters, their current setting is less than ideal, thus inspiring him to bounce.
And the other also expresses a similar desire. However, the vocalist notes that the latter is not being truthful in that regard. So it’s as if the one who is content is holding back the other who wants to explore new territories. And that actually appears to be the thesis sentiment of the song, if you will, that the free-minded bird is so attached to the lethargic one, that the former is compelled to stay put like the latter.
In Conclusion
As far as actually deriving a moral from the story, doing so requires a bit more imagination. That’s why earlier we alluded that this sounds a lot like a romantic gripe, as the concept of being held back by a partner is one you most commonly hear in unhappy romances.
However, it’s not like either one of the birds are being judged by the vocalist. But if anything, since the complacent one is identified as “a liar”, we can conclude that he’s the bad guy of the story.
And therefore the further implication is that he is in fact preventing the other from fulfilling his destiny, so to speak. So if a listener decides to, they can perhaps extract a message like ‘don’t let others hold you back from exploring the world’ from this narrative.
Regina Spektor and “Two Birds”
Regina Spektor was born in Moscow. In this city, she spent the first decade of her life. However, she possesses American citizenship. And by the looks of things, spent all of her latter years, being 41 as of the writing of this post, stateside.
And between 2001 and 2016 she dropped seven studio albums. “Two Birds” is a track from the fifth of her aforementioned efforts, 2009’s Far. And as far as Regina’s discography goes, said LP represents one of her better received projects. It ended up reaching a peak position of number 3 on the Billboard 200,
Spektor wrote “Two Birds” herself. And its producer is Jacknife Lee, a behind-the-scenes’ musician who worked all over the music industry.
how does referring to both parties with male pronouns rule out a romantic relationship 🤨
Exactly 😭
You’re absolutely right. The highlighted text is to draw the attention of the reader that there is also the possibility that there might be a union of a romantic kind in the mix despite the usage of the male pronouns.
I mean, why “despite”, why “”probably isn’t the case”? The note you added doesn’t fix anything, just because it would be a mlm relationship doesn’t mean it’s less probable.
Because they’re birds and I don’t think gay birds exist
Gay birds exist! There’s proof,google it
Actually the wierd thing is that they do. I have pet pigeons and 2 of them were gay because they couldn’t find a partner so they just ended up building a nest. Similarly to this song one of them flew away while the other stayed.
There are gay relationships in all of the species of animals 🙂
Gay birds don’t exist, they think the other bird is female. The goal of any simple species is to reproduce and that is exactly what they’re trying to do.
They. Aren’t. Birds. It’s a metaphor.
Its symbolic and there are gay birds in life black swans
OMG I JUST GOOGLED IT GAY BIRDS EXIST ????
I’ve seen male birds mate so yes gay birds exist
You are totally right!
Ikr. There is such thing as a gay relationship! 🏳️🌈
Because it’s untraditional? When you’re writing a song you write it for everyone who has the potential to listen, and to make that song easier to interpret or relate to, you would write it in traditional values. Nowhere in this song does it make it clear or even vaguely hint at it being about or revolving around homosexuality. Most mainstream artists wouldn’t make an LGBTQ song without making it clear that’s what it’s about, because they don’t really care about normalization.
It can still be about two gay men💀
That’s not true 🙂 think about David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, other legends who’ve written masterpieces about gays. and ‘everyone who has the potential to listen’ includes gay people. love itself is traditional, not straight or gay.
Exactly my point. They would have made that clear. IT ISN’T EVEN CONFIRMED IT’S ROMANTIC! They most likely wouldn’t have that in this type of song, especially in the meaning and context of the rest of the song
Yeah they could be gay who knows?
Exactly! They can still have a romantic relationship, it doesn’t matter gender. What if it was? You would be ruling it out when it’s true. Homophobia isn’t okay people. 😓
i mean this was made in 2009 and most people werent very publicly gay at that time. if you are weird and want to think its gay u can i guess
They said it might not that it did and later still refers to it as possibly a romantic relationship
maybe its gay
Maybe it is
Exactly. But whatever it is, honestly (NO HOMOPHOBIA MEANT) I think that it’s brothers. Like the younger brother isn’t ready to go out and live alone, the other is trying to help him? Either way.
Here what I think every time I hear this song: “two bird on a wire” (two birds in an home) “one try to fly away and the other watches him close to that wires” (the younger one try to fly away from the house to explore and find new friends. But the older brother didn’t let the younger one go so he kept his eyes on the younger in case it escape).
“He say he want to as well but he is an liar” (he said he want to explore with his younger brother but he lied, saying it was dangerous outside so they both can’t explore the world) “I believe it all..there nothing I won’t understand.”
(The younger brother believe the older brother lies, saying he won’t understand what it feel like to be free other the staying in the house/wire all the time) “I believe it all…I won’t let go of your hands.” (The younger brother still believe the older brother lies, not letting go of the older brother hands since the younger one thought the older one was jus trying to kept his younger brother safe.)
“Two bird on an wire. One say cmom and the other say I am tired…” (Months passed, the younger one was stuck being inside and try to convince his older brother to explore but the older one deny, saying he is tired and wanted to kill himself because he was getting sicker each day by day so the younger one left him) “the sky is overcast and I am sorry..” (the cloud block the sky, making it dark outside so the older brother thought it was the right time to kill himself, so he put text his brother, saying he is sorry then he killed himself, the younger brother started panicking and rush to the house, sprinting to the older brother bedroom and saw the brother has killed him self by hanging) “one more or one less, nobody worries” (the younger one cried, and the other was not worrying about the brother death, there were another note??
The younger one found the note on the older brother desk, opening it up and there were another sorry) “I believe it all…there nothing I won’t understand..” (he felt ashamed that he bent tricked. Yet he don’t understand why his brother killed himself, which made him felt guilty thinking it was his fault) “I believe it all…I won’t let go of your hands..” (he believed that he will come back for the younger brother, the younger brother found an teddy bear and hug it till he fall asleep, not letting it go, it was the last thing of his deer dead brother) “two bird of an feather, stay they will always be together but one never going to let go of the wire..” (the younger brother lost his brother teddy bear which became an feather, but he still hold on to that wire/memories of his brother, he didn’t want to move on without him..he was the only one who can change the younger one) “he say that he will but he is an liar” (one of the younger brother friends ask him if he will move one, he said he will, but he didn’t, he cried at his bed all night, without his brother or anything that was from his brother, he can’t sleep peacefully, knowing that he won’t be safe all alone…)
“Two bird on an wire…. one try to fly away and the other watches him close to that wire” (the younger brother dream of him being with his brother, but he ask the older brother to went out with him, and so they did. The younger one say an ice cream truck and ran to it, without realizing he is on the street, an car was almost hitting the younger one until the older one say the car and rush to save him, taking the hits so the younger one don’t have to suffer) “he say he want to as well but he is an liar..” (the older one got taken in the hospital, the younger one cried out to him, saying live for me please! And the older one said he want to as well, but he really didn’t, his eyes was clouded with sorrow, pain and guilty, the old one couldn’t handle the guilty he has..) “two bird on an wire, one try to fly away and the other watches him close to that wire” (the younger one found the brother old toy, an joy smile would over come his face, the toy was worth half of the brother soul, but the older brother soul was trapped into the toy body, it weep to fly/get out of the toy body, but the younger one kept it eyes in the toy, not letting it go or make it stay away from him)
That must take a lot of imagination- I really like where you went with this thesis though—but I personally think that “Two Birds” is really something much deeper than that, (maybe betrayal- idk-) but again, I could be wrong. I am not hating on your opinion, I actually quite like it! But because this song makes me feel some type of way I can’t particularly describe, I feel like it’s deeper than that.
Bro that’s impressive! I bet you’re right
Wow i like your idea! it made me cry tho
I think its about moving on from on from a shared event that likely traumatic. One sibling/ Or partner has found acceptance and healed and is trying to guide the other to acheive it too but one of them isn’t ready
One could be suicidal and and the other is faking being suicidal. A fake best friend.
That to me sounds really emotional and maybe it could be deeper but I just want to know what it means, people uses the song for a meme, but I also think the song has a deep background and not like a gay relationship someone said that and I don’t think that’s the case.
I think that this song is based on a relationship of siblings, (Let’s call them sister and brother the one dying the brother and the one living in the sister) I’m pretty sure this song means that the sister is dying and wants to keep their sibling close by, the brother knows about her illness but doesn’t know how bad or serious her health is and that her death is very close
Two birds on a wire = two closest siblings
One tries to fly away = A brother who wants to go outside the world
And the other watches him close from that wire = The sister watches him sadly
He says he wants to as well = She wishes that she could be with her brother
But he is a liar = but she lied
I’ll believe it all = He wants to believe it all
There’s nothing I won’t understand = He says that he won’t understand how close she is to die
I’ll believe it all = He’d still believe it all
I won’t let go of your hand = so he will keep helping her
Two birds on a wire = two siblings in a house
One says c’mon and the other says “I’m tired” = The brother is ready to move while the sister is almost gone
The sky is overcast and I’m sorry = It’s when she is lying on her death bed seeing the clouds shadowing the light, she says her final goodbye and one sorry.
One more or one less = One dead one alive (?)
Nobody’s worried = Nobody really cares but the brother is crying.
Two birds of a feather = two siblings at the grave
Say that they’re always gonna stay together = they would always be with each other
But one’s never going to let go of that wire = one of them will never let go of each other
He says that he will = she said that but
But he’s just a liar = that was a lie
Playback:
Two birds on a wire = two closest siblings
One tries to fly away = A brother who wants to go outside the world
And the other watches him close from that wire = The sister watches him sadly
He says he wants to as well = She wishes that she could be with her brother
But he is a liar = but she couldn’t and she can’t
I think the song is all about death, how one person is dying while the other person isnt.
there are many theories on the story of two birds but mayyybe it has a deeper meaning? for example, what if it simplifies the death of a person? Maybe it is a romantic love song saying that no matter what we do, we loose someone we love one day or another? Like how it says “One says c’mon, and the other says I’m tired”, I think it shows the mental obstacles a person goes through once they lose a person they love.
I don’t think both of them being male should make it less of a probability of them being in a romantic relationship
I think that one is commiting suicide lmao
I always think of it in this kind of way: that the one who can’t leave the “wire” (and what I mean by that is they are on an iv like thing) is actually just someone really sick with something and hiding it, and the one who wants to leave is always asking the other one to come play or hang out or something like that and hasn’t figured it out yet.
Progressing through the song the other one begins to figure out the truth and begins testing the other one, and questioning them, this consequentially begins to weaken their relationship little by little until eventually, they get in a bad fight, and somewhere in that fight, the truth of the one being sick gets revealed causing the other one to get upset enough to maybe go and try to r.i.p themselves or at least try.
But then again my opinion is far-fetched and leaves plot holes here and there but if it is correct then there are even then some things to figure out like what the illness was, were they lovers or besties, and if and how the other one r.i.p itself.
This is only my opinion though and it is pretty far fetched
I thought it was about two close, best friends making plans together for the future. They have a dream together. But one of them won’t be able to make it. He does not find the courage or he has different things going on in his life that are standing in his way. He feels their dream life slipping away and knows he can’t do it anymore. He supports the other to go on without him. The other succeeds and continues their dream but sadly without his best friend. They grow apart but still think about each other often as their friendship was deep and they have had a big impact on each other’s lives.
Honestly I think it’s about an ending friendship. The bird flying away from the wire is one of the friends flying away from their friendship. The other friend tries to stay and hold onto the friendship and says they will move on but they really never will.
Random theory: DEATH. That’s it
Sameeee, I also think it’s about death because the ppart where it says “One says c’mon and the other says im tired..” that part makes it more logical for me.
I really really like this song, it’s soothing to your ears.
What I think you ask?
Well….
This song is about two birds, depicting two friends
It tells about how these two friend one being an shy, introvert, dark past guy/girl
And one you know like an very extrovert, open, life of the party and all
Let’s call the shy one Jase and the other Mase.
So Jase really is trying hard to change Mase’s life, you know bring that childhood innocence, that funny personality back in Mase’s life, and he believeshe could do it.(I belive it all….I’m won’t let go off your hand)
So basically the moral of the story (what I think) :
No matter how sad, no matter what situation you’re going thru, your partner/ a REAL best friend, will always be there for you, your partner, family/ soulmate,best friend, besides your personality will always care for you.
So the whole song tells us about the story/life about every pure and cute little relationship.
Tbh this could also be an betrayal from one to other,
(….one tries to fly away and the other, watches him close from that wire, says I wish I could…but he’s such a liar)
☺my thoughts☺
I believe it is about two best friends with the wire resembling their friendship or memories together.
One tries to fly away and make new ones.
But he doesn’t want to go without his friend he asks if he come.
The other doesn’t want him to lose him but also doesn’t want to leave the only thing he has left.
They said they would stay together, but life changes and the one knows it but the other grabs onto the familiar. As the one leaves the sky gets dark as the other realizes his mistake.
So I think the song is about saying goodbye to a childhood friend and having to move on. Some do but others won’t let go.
Personally, i think it’s about two close freinds, one wants to go out and make new freinds, but the other wants the other to stay. deeper into the song, it sounds like the one trying to stop the other from going away just gives up, and ends their freindship, feeling betrayed and the other one goes away, but sad at the same time.
ok just a quick question, why does both of them being assumed male exclude the possibility of them being in a romantic relationship??Also in my opinion(no hate pls,just what I thought and gathered,if you dont agree move on) it makes more sense if they are in a romantic relationship, cuz i think i can speak for me and alot of ppl when i said being in a relationship, regardless if its straight or not, is ‘F’ing hard!!!!
I honestly think it’s about suicide. Like the mind and body, the mind wants to die. But your body doesn’t? (Idk something I came up with) but all of these ideas are better! I’ve read all of them
i like that its smart
same
All these people who are like “this is what the song is about, actually” are fools. If a song can be interpreted a certain way and there is evidence for it then that reading of it is valid
For me I think its about two people (what ever relationship) who are close but one starts to become distant or grows as a person and then other one watches
I thought it was about 2 friends and like one was gonna/did commit building jump-
I actually found this to be very helpful because everytime I watch a video of this song I always cried and at first I never knew why so i decide to search it up and this gave me a lot to see. I can also see how the gay relationship is there as well. It’s amazing what people can hide in songs. Thank you for the help on this also everyone have a lovely night or day hope you are all happy and healthy! :]
Bro why does being the same gender automatically mean you’re nothing more than friends? Ain’t nothing wrong with being gay.
I think there’s someone in a coma but he or she is replaying a part of his or her memory but in stead they said it with birds.
Now this isn’t probably the actual meaning, but to me it always meant someone contemplating su1c1de. One of my best friends is suicidal and I always think of them because I got over my depression and suicidal thoughts but they haven’t yet
i think this song means like two bff that promise to stay together but one of them at one point choose to make other friends and explore the world excluding the other one that remains alone
I think its about death, my thoughts are that two people are, say best friends, and then they play everyday but one day the one friend gets really sick and then they are really tired, so they don’t wanna play, and so they die, what its means by one more one less I think it means 1 is living 1 died, and this song is really nice but it really sad, but I think something happened to Regina Spektor’s because maybe one of her friends died and now she is really sad like maybe she was bestfriends with her friend and her friend got sick and then dies so maybe her friend let go of life. Its just my thoughts so please don’t judge, thank you!
This song always reminded me of all the times I was depressed and my friend tried to pull me out of it but all I wanted was for her to give up and be happy so I lied to her a lot when she asked how I was doing. Again this is just how I interpret it and it isn’t necessarily correct.
Honestly I kinda thought this song was about two friends but the one on the wire was mentally I’ll saying he’d be better soon and this cuts his life short- that’s just what I thought though
I kinda did too
I think that the song is about two brothers. One wants to explore the world while the other wants to stay home and read (?). They are known as the best of friends. Then their parent dies. One brother tries to let go of the past and create a new future. While the other says that he will when he is a liar. In the end, I noticed that she ends with ” Two birds on a wire, one tries to fly away and the other…” I’m guessing the brother that did not want to let go dies. While the brother tries to let go of that but is sadly unsuccessful.
YALL WTF, AS A MLM YALL NEED TO STOP FIGHTING ABOUT IF THE TWO PEOPLE ARE GAY DAMN.
I agree with stop Fighting
This song makes me cry almost every time I hear it and I don’t know why. It obviously means something to me, but I can’t quite figure it out.
If you want your statement to be good, then don’t use “I think” bro
I feel like it’s friends who share an addiction, or depression. One is ready to get clean or move on. The other one pretends they want to quit their addiction or get treatment but they’re the other and won’t get over it. Maybe they’ll die of OD or suicide.
this is legit the meaning i thought of too. my best friend commit suicide almost 2 months ago, and we both have an addiction and some type of mood disorder. i’ve almost given up and sometimes i’m ready to try and get better. but she gave up.
I thought it was about freinds or family getting over a death or traumatic experience one not being able to move on
But hey that’s just a theory A SONG THEORY
To be honest I use this song as a symbol of an old friendship I had. I wanted to be friends again and again after they hurt me and then they say they will but they are “just a liar”. And “I’ll believe it all” whenever they tell me anything, even a lie. And eventually they finally lost my trust completely, hence the cut off at the end, as if hesitating if I should be friends with them again when they finally wanted to. Don’t worry, I am out of that friendship but they continue to attempt to spread rumors but I hope it stops :[
Maybe the reason Regina chose BIRDS as the metaphor is because birds are super faithful unlike alot of humans and also most bird species when finding a partner stay with them till death? Well i mean- I don’t know what they are in the story, relatives, friends, lovers but maybe relatives because she says “Two birds of a feather” perhaps meaning they are from the same bird AKA person? This shit be hard 😧
I think it’s about a friendship like “two birds” two friends who weren’t meant for each other. “two birds on a wire. one says cmon but the other says im tired.” like one friend is detirmined in the friendship and one isnt
I agree. “Two birds of a feather” might mean that their relatives, siblings, cousins, etc, etc. At the “Two birds on a wire one tries to fly away” on my theory I think that they are on the same path but then one tries to follow her/his dreams but the other tries to pull her/him back to stay with him/her? And at the “One says come on! But the other says I’m tired” I think that the one bird is trying to say “come on, explore the world with me!’ But the other bird says. “Ya, totally maybe later?” This is all my theory!
definitely. I think that it’s probably like this but it would be like…”Hey! lets go to the college of our dreams and be determined in life!” “sorry I cant i gotta go walk my dog” or something
How about this:
It’s a song.
With a meaning.
But mainly the artist knows the meaning.
So we’ll just be happy with that.
Okay, uh well just bc it’s gay doesn’t rule it out, but that’s besides the point. I think it may be about two friends in which one of them is suicidal, the other seems to want to help them but the suicidal one refuses it- “I’ll believe it all, there’s nothing I won’t understand” . And also it seems the one is a “liar” because they say they’re okay and they don’t need help. And I think the one who is suicidal actually did commit, possibly w the “one more, or one less, nobodies worried.” But then the other one who didn’t is a liar. He says he would let go of them, but really. They’re lying. But of course, it does not have to be smth negative like that!
I thought that this song was about someone wanting to move on with life and someone wanting to commit sewerslide because it sounds like the bird who wants to fly wants the other to stay, and the tired bird wants to die.
I feel this is about cancer and one tries to fly to heaven but but the other wants to commit suicide with one but can’t because he wants to live
Personally I think one is trying to commit suicide but the other wants to as well but says no because he wants to live the gay is possible but why would Regina make a song about gay people if she wanted a deeper meaning ( NO HOMOPHOBIA MEANT)
Wow great comments! Especially Anonymous, April 22, 2022– the one stays with the familiar. That is definitely the easier way–at the moment! My husband always says “2 birds on a wire” so I looked up the meaning and the song because neither of us knew there was a song! He heard a message a long time ago at church called “change isn’t change til you change”. Since he has said that phrase, I have pictured 2 birds talking(chirping) and one of them says, I was thinking about….flying over to that group of trees across town and the other one says, yeah but what if…. it starts raining on the way there? Or what if….you get tired? They go back and forth for quite some time with excuses and neither end up leaving. The one had an idea and wanted the other to go but neither left the wire. The point of the message was that a decision to do something can be talked about all day, but until you actually DO the thing you said, it still remains unchanged and you become a liar. You make a decision to change something in your life, only thinking about it and not really putting forth the effort to actually make it happen. How much does it mean to you?
2 birds sitting on a wire….
I think it could be a kidnapping of two brothers (I feel like the “twwo birds of a feather” means they are blood related or something), one is 5 ig and the other is 7. So the kidnapper just keeps them alive for years ig idk this theory has it’s flaws, anyways, the brothers come up with a plan to escape. They find a working lighter or something and they plan to burn the kidnapper ig. The younger one thinks they’ll escape together while the older one knows he will have to sacrifice himself to make sure the kidnapper can’t follow the younger one. He lies to his brother, saying they’ll escape together but when the time comes, he tells his brother to run while he distracts the kidnapper and that he’ll catch up to him later. The younger brother does so, happy when he escapes but then he realises that his brother was going to sacrifice himself and he got to him in time to hear him say he was sorry. And…you know?
Absolute brain melts. People be arguing whether birds are gay or not like it even matters smh. The stupidity of this is unreal. Just enjoy the song and the many theories of the meaning instead of arguing Jesus Christ
I love this song so much it’s rly sad and moving . I don’t rly have a theory but I think that the ‘wire’ is symbolic . Maybe it is suicidal and it’s a hanging idk . I just think that the songwriter would pick a wire for a reason cos they could just say a ledge or a nest or smth but they chose a wire . That’s just what I think but I love all of the theories on this site it’s so interesting to see what everyone thinks .