In a
2004 interview, Live lead singer Ed Kowalczyk said this song is about the birth of his first daughter, Ana. "She brought forth in me a kind of understanding that I had been longing for that I couldn't get without her. I wrote 'Heaven' when I saw her ultrasound at about seven months and figured out that she was a girl. That was enough. It was like, here we go, now."
Kowalczyk elaborated on the song meaning in an interview with the Netherlands' OOR Magazine, saying, "'Heaven' personifies the meaning of the album. It's very explicit in a way, I have always been searching for something spiritual, I always battled the big questions about life, God and religion. The lyrics of 'Heaven' are about my daughter ending my search for spirituality. A birth is so non-abstract, so real and touchable. It's really easy to abstracise concepts about spirituality, God and love. These are concepts, not reality. At their best they are potential reality, but they are still thoughts. The birth of my daughter kind of terminated my adolescent search for God or the higher, that lasted about 10 years."
Kowalczyk described Birds Of Pray as "the sound of a band restarting its engines." He explained, "It's a return to a sound that we're really comfortable with, that is very familiar - four guys, guitars, lots of dynamic shifts, lots of emotion."
This was released as a digital download in the US rather than a commercial CD single. It peaked at #59 on the Hot 100, making it their best showing on the chart since "
Selling The Drama" peaked at #43 in 1994. It also peaked at #33 on the Mainstream Rock chart.
Most of Live's albums up till this point were produced by Talking Heads guitarist Jerry Harrison, but Birds Of Pray was helmed by Jim Wirt, who's known for his work with Hoobastank and Incubus. Kowalczyk explained how Wirt influenced the record:
"This time we spent a lot of time along with Jim crafting the sound, more than we have ever done before even. With that I mean taking time to find the right sound. As far as this way of working goes, Jim and us were all at the end of the spectre. We used to do it this way: We tuned our guitars once, recorded the song once or twice and then we tuned our guitars again to record the next song. Jim made us tune our guitars every 30 seconds. He was totally getting on my nerves (laughs) 'Are you completely insane? We're a f--king rock band!' I never ever had to tune my guitar that much. And he went on and on 'Trust me, just trust me'. The current single 'Heaven' for example, has become a warm bed for ten layers of guitar that are all balanced perfectly. And I must say, it sounds like a symphony. His production way really makes the difference. So even though we went back to our roots, this record is more 'produced' then ever."
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Despite Kowalczyk's assertion that the band was getting back to basics on the album, guitarist Chad Taylor didn't feel like the album did justice to their rock roots, especially with its heavenly single. "I loved the melody to 'Heaven' but wasn't sure how our rocker fan base would feel about the lyrics. This isn't to say that I didn't love the lyrics; after all, I look at my daughters…you know. There are no outtakes that I know of and Jim Wirt worked really hard to fashion a contemporary album but it never felt like the Live I loved." The creative disagreements highlighted the cracks in the band's foundation that would eventually lead to Kowalczyk's acrimonious departure in 2010.
In the music video, a young boy attempts to swim across a river to meet the girl on the other side but gets swept up in the current. When the girl tries to help him, they both get carried away towards a waterfall and an unexplained fate. The clip was shot in Iceland and directed by Arni & Kinski ("
Chasing Cars").
A second music video features footage of the band performing the song at Voorst National in Brussels, Belgium.