Little Blue

Album: Young Heart (2021)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • A few months before Birdy started writing her fourth album, she went through a breakup. After taking a break from music in India to recover, Birdy moved into an old wooden house in Topanga Canyon, California, where her creative juices started flowing. The result is Young Hearts, a heartbreak record inspired by the Joni Mitchell album Blue.

    "I'd always heard Joni Mitchell growing up, but her mastery, particularly her album Blue, didn't really hit me until I began making this record," Birdy told The Sun. "I was really inspired by her lyrics and the way their so conversational but also it made me want to write more on the guitar, the tunings she uses are so unusual."
  • Birdy wrote this breakup song with Bastian "Carassius Gold" Langebaek (Jessie Ware's "Midnight," Jess Glynne's "All I Am"). It finds the singer heartbroken that her former lover has disappeared from her life.

    Little Blue finds me again
    Creeps over my heart
    Like a shadow on the hills


    She told Apple Music: "This song is about grief, and, to me, it's probably the saddest song on the record. A breakup is close to grief, because you can't talk to this person anymore."

    But Birdy is reluctant to let go of her feelings of sadness.

    Little Blue reminds me of the love I had that's gone
    Little Blue, in you is where those memories live on
    Don't leave too soon
    Please, keep me close to you


    Once Birdy shakes off her sorrow, it means she's moved on. But this will mean the memories of happy times with her ex will evaporate.
  • Joni Mitchell recorded a song called "Little Green" for her Blue album, but according to Birdy, the similarities in titles is just a coincidence.
  • Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk, the duo behind Kacey Musgraves' Golden Hour and Star-Crossed albums, produced this song.
  • Lotta Boman directed the video, filming it at the Topanga Canyon house Birdy stayed in while writing Young Heart.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Lita Ford

Lita FordSongwriter Interviews

Lita talks about how they wrote songs in The Runaways, and how she feels about her biggest hit being written by somebody else.

Metallica

MetallicaFact or Fiction

Beef with Bon Jovi? An unfortunate Spandex period? See if you can spot the true stories in this Metallica version of Fact or Fiction.

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce Pavitt

Experience Nirvana with Sub Pop Founder Bruce PavittSong Writing

The man who ran Nirvana's first label gets beyond the sensationalism (drugs, Courtney) to discuss their musical and cultural triumphs in the years before Nevermind.

P.F. Sloan

P.F. SloanSongwriter Interviews

P.F. was a teenager writing hits and playing on tracks for Jan & Dean when he wrote a #1 hit that got him blackballed.

Kerry Livgren of Kansas

Kerry Livgren of KansasSongwriter Interviews

In this talk from the '80s, the Kansas frontman talks turning to God and writing "Dust In The Wind."

Bands Named After Real People (Who Aren't In The Band)

Bands Named After Real People (Who Aren't In The Band)Song Writing

How a gym teacher, a janitor, and a junkie became part of some very famous band names.