Album: It's A Beautiful Day (1969)

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• White bird
  In a golden cage
  On a winter's day
  In the rain
  
  White bird
  In a golden cage
  Alone
  
  The leaves blow
  Across the long, black road
  To the darkened skies
  In it's rage
  
  But the white bird
  Just sits in her cage
  Unknown
  
  White bird must fly
  Or she will die
  
  White bird
  Dreams of the aspen trees
  With their dying leaves
  Turning gold
  
  But the white bird
  Just sits in her cage
  Growing old
  
  White bird must fly
  Or she will die
  White bird must fly
  Or she will die
  
  The sunsets come
  The sunsets go
  The clouds roll by
  And the earth turns old
  And the young bird's eyes
  Do always glow
  
  She must fly
  She must fly
  She must fly
  
  White bird
  In a golden cage
  On a winter's day
  In the rain
  
  White bird
  In a golden cage
  Alone
  
  White bird must fly
  Or she will die
  White bird must fly
  Or she will die
  White bird must fly
  Or she will die Writer/s: DAVID LAFLAMME, LINDA LAFLAMME
  Publisher: MUSIC & MEDIA INT'L, INC.
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 17

• Hambone from ColoradoArno is right. The song is not about smack. That's pure bull crap and insulting to the artists. It's about peace and freedom.
• Arno from Germany@Carl Afghanistan H was never white, it was and is beige/brown, nowadays dirty and dangerous, the afghanian thugs are greedy and give a damn about the health of addicts.
  I doubt that the two ever used H at all.
• Elkhorn Slim from Planet Earthgreat song , great album i have it / cd on right now,,,would like to see David play again .come on back to Santa Cruz, when its safe
• Stephen Bjorndal from Sherwood, OrHi David! How are you! Sure like to hear from you. Be well.
• Bill from Reno,nevadaAM radio in Reno played a shortened version, w/o the violin interlude, of "White Bird" often in fall 1969. Easily made KCBN's weekly top 30. A beautiful piece from an aptly named group. Has lost none of its appeal in 48 years.
• Orion from Corn CountryWhat a great song this is. My son born in the 80s was raised listening to it on my CD player. He still loves it and listens to it to this day. It has a serenity that abounds. I listen to it many nights as I close my eyes for sleep.
• Kira from Va@Carl - as the daughter of both song writers, I can tell you that (as mundane as it is) White Bird is about billowing clouds and the oppressive Seattle rain. It is NOT about heroin. Linda never dabbled in that particular drug.
• Carl from Los Angeles, CaSorry to bust the illusion, guys, but the "white bird" in the song is China white heroin: top grade, pure, straight-from-Afghanistan heroin. It's a beautiful song, but it's not about billowing clouds and dreamy glazes out of windows. Back in the day, they were famous for their chemical recreation. And they not only didn't try to hide it, but they bragged about it a little. I saw the band perform in Kansas City's Freedom Palace a thousand years ago and chatted with them in the bathroom while we were all taking a pee. Gifted musicians, they wore their drug use on their sleeve back in 1968, 1969. And we all loved them all the more for it. Too bad they didn't do more stuff.
• Tom Twardowski from Mission Viejo, CaThe song is used to great effect in the 1999 movie A Walk On The Moon starring Diane Lane, Viggo Mortensen, Liev Schreiber, Anna Paquin.
• Robert from Urbandale, IaI have to agree with Linny - this is a hauntingly beautiful song - I first heard it on the '80s TV series "Knight Rider" - first in an episode called "White Bird," and then in the final season episode "The Scent of Roses". Beautiful!!
• Bart from New Milford, NjOne reported reason for its popularity among DJ's is its length; when the DJ had to put on the records and the carts, it gave him or her sufficient time to take a bathroom break and be back before they had to switch to the next piece.
• Jim from Union, IlI first heard it when I was in Viet Nam,it was so peacful and soothing to listen to. I bought the reel to reel tape at the px and still got it today,although I got the cd album"its a beautiful day. I listen to it and go back 39 years like it was yesterday.
• John from San Francisco, CaPattie Santos, the lead singer for It's A Beautiful Day, died December 14, 1989 in an automobile accident on Hwy. 128 in Mendocino County, California
• Reed from New Ulm, MnOne of my favorites from that era.
• Rick from Seattle, WaThe song was way too long for AM radio play, so it never cracked the Top 40 slots. Of course, AM didn't play in stereo, which would have taken away from the song considerably.
  
  FM radio was in it's infancy, but severely restricted in range. At the turn of the decade (1960's/1970's) most cities only had one FM station, which played classical music to "audiophiles" who had stereo equipment. But that was changing fast, by the early 1970's there were a number of FM radio stations playing rock music, even though their range (in distance) was severly limited. Those FM stations didn't have the advertising revenue of the top-40 stations, but this also gave the disc jockeys a lot of independence, especially those playing late at night. Where I grew up, in a mid-size city in the south, there was only one such station, and teenagers would drive from around the city to get within range of it to listen for the night. That station introduced me to a lot of groups which didn't hit the top-40's until quite a few years later, including Its a Beautiful Day and The Allman Bros. Band.
  
  I fell in love with this song (White Bird) in the Early 1970's while listening to it on the FM radio while I fell asleep at night as a teenager.
• Linny from Harrisburg, PaThis is one of the most hauntingly beautiful songs of all time. The vocals, the instrumentation, and the words are just perfect.
• Garry from Anchorage, Ak?White Bird? was the biggest hit from the group?s first album, It?s A Beautiful Day, released in 1969. The album cover became famous. It depicted a bonneted girl in a long dress standing on a hill top and gazing into the blue sky with white clouds all around.

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