Bird on the Wire

"Bird on the Wire"
Song by Leonard Cohen from the album Songs from a Room
Released	April 1969
Recorded	26 September 1968, Nashville
Length	3:28
Writer	Leonard Cohen
Producer	Bob Johnston
Songs from a Room track listing
"Bird on the Wire" (1) "Story of Isaac" (2)

"Bird on the Wire" is one of Leonard Cohen's signature songs. It was recorded 26 September 1968 in Nashville and included on his 1969 album Songs from a Room. A May 1968 recording produced by David Crosby, entitled "Like a Bird", was added to the 2007 remastered CD. Judy Collins was the first to release the song on her 1968 album Who Knows Where the Time Goes.

In the 1960s, Cohen lived on the Greek island Hydra with his girlfriend Marianne (the woman depicted on Songs from a Room's back cover). She has related how she helped him out of a depression by handing him his guitar, whereupon he began composing "Bird on the Wire" – inspired by a bird sitting on one of Hydra's recently installed phone wires, followed by memories of wet island nights. He finished it in a Hollywood motel.

Cohen has described "Bird on the Wire" as a simple country song, and the first recording, by Judy Collins, was indeed done in a country setting. He later made various minor changes, such as the modifications present on Cohen Live. Different renditions are included on all of his live albums. On occasion he also performed Serge Lama's French version, "Vivre tout seul", in concert.

In the sleevenotes to a 2007 release of Songs From A Room the song was described as "simultaneously a prayer and an anthem, a kind of bohemian My Way. Kris Kristofferson once told Cohen that he wanted the song's opening lines (Like a bird on the wire/like a drunk in a midnight choir/I have tried in my way to be free) to serve as his epitaph."

Cover versions

Several artists have covered the song, often as "Bird on a Wire" (indeed, this variation appears in the compilation The Essential Leonard Cohen), including:

• Joe Cocker on Joe Cocker! (1969) and the live album Mad Dogs & Englishmen (1970)
• Jackie DeShannon on the album To Be Free (1970)
• Dave Van Ronk on Van Ronk (1971)
• Tim Hardin on the album Bird on a Wire (1971)
• Pearls Before Swine on the album Beautiful Lies You Could Live In (1971)
• Rita Coolidge on the album The Lady's Not for Sale (1972)
• Fairport Convention on the album Heyday: the BBC Radio Sessions, 1968–1969 (1987)
• Jennifer Warnes on the tribute album Famous Blue Raincoat (1987)
• Tom Cochrane and Red Rider on The Symphony Sessions (1989)
• The Neville Brothers on the album Brother's Keeper (1990), also included in the movie by the same name
• The Lilac Time on the tribute album I'm Your Fan (1991)
• Soul Asylum did an acoustic version that CIMX-FM used to play
• The Bobs on the album Cover the Songs of … (1994), in a skate-punk style
• Johnny Cash on the album American Recordings (1994), and also live with orchestra (released on the 2003 compilation Unearthed)
• Willie Nelson on the tribute album Tower of Song (1995)
• Stina Nordenstam on the album People Are Strange (1998)
• k.d. lang on the album Hymns of the 49th Parallel (2004)
• autorickshaw on the album So the Journey Goes (2007)
• Perla Batalla on the album Bird on the Wire: the Songs of Leonard Cohen (2005)
• Eva Dahlgren on the tribute album Cohen – the Scandinavian Report (2009)
• Joe Bonamassa on the album Black Rock (2010)
• Kiko Veneno on the album Dice la Gente (2010), adapted to spanish
• Katey Sagal on the television program Sons of Anarchy in Season 3 Episode 4 (2011)

In popular culture

• The Norwegian band Midnight Choir had its name from the song's opening lines, "Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free."
• Kris Kristofferson has stated that those opening lines will be his epitaph.
• It was featured in a promo for an episode of the TV series Lost.
• A cover version of the song sung by Katey Sagal was featured in a closing segment of an episode, during the third season, of the TV series Sons of Anarchy.
• It was also featured in the TV Series Parenthood.
• Nigel Blackwell of the UK band Half Man Half Biscuit occasionally sings the opening lines of the song during live versions of his band's song '24 Hour Garage People', after mentioning being able to hear the songs playing on Graeme the shop assistant's iPod.
• A cover is featured in the concluding scenes of director Robert Altman's 1978 film A Wedding.
• Tim Hardin's fourth album (Bird On A Wire) took its name from this song

External links

• Lyrics (Songs from a Room version)
• Lyrics (Cohen Live version)