"The Bird" is a song recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

Jerry Reed Jerry Reed Hubbard (March 20, 1937 – September 1, 2008) was an American singer, guitarist, composer, and songwriter as well as an actor who appeared in more than a dozen films. His signature songs included " Guitar Man", " U.S. Male", "A Thi ...

. Written by Hal Coleman and Barry Etris, this

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and w ...

contains impressions of

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (197 ...

's "Whiskey River" and " On the Road Again;" and

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song "He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...

' "

He Stopped Loving Her Today "He Stopped Loving Her Today" is a song recorded by American country music artist George Jones. It has been named in several surveys as the greatest country song of all time. It was released in April 1980 as the lead single from the album ''I Am W ...

." It was released in October 1982 as the lead single from the album, ''The Bird''. The song peaked at No. 2 on the ''

Billboard magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart just before Christmas.

Content

The song is told in first person from the point of view of a

blue-collar A blue-collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involving manufacturing, warehousing, mining, excavation, electricity generation and powe ...

worker who stops at a roadside tavern. While there, a gentleman walks in the door with a curious-looking bird on his shoulder. The man, who turns out to be a smooth-talking

salesman Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. The seller, or the provider of the goods or services, completes a sale in r ...

, walks up to the main character and boasts about the bird's singing abilities. The protagonist is skeptical and asks the salesman to back up his claim. The salesman tells the bird, "Do Ol' Willie." To the protagonist's disbelief, the bird immediately sings the chorus to Nelson's "Whiskey River." Sensing a possibly huge windfall with this novelty act (for instance, creating a show with a singing bird as his main act), the main character asks the salesman to have the bird perform one more song. The bird sings the chorus of Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today." Immediately thereafter, the protagonist agrees to buy the bird for $500. The deal is closed, and the salesman exits. Moments later, as the protagonist is dreaming about a lucrative career as novelty act performer, the bird flies out the door, never to be seen again. The protagonist realizes that he has been tricked and can only watch helplessly as the bird flies out into the night, singing modified lyrics to Nelson's "On the Road Again." (The modified lyric is: "The life I love is making money with my friend" (compare to the Nelson original: "The life I love is making music with my friends")). As the verse to "On the Road Again" repeats to the fade, Reed can be heard screaming for the bird to come back; one of the final things he says before the fade ends is "Buy me a drink, somebody!"

Chart performance

References

* Allmusic — ''The Bird'' by Jerry Reed {{DEFAULTSORT:Bird (Reed, Jerry Song), The Songs about birds 1982 singles Jerry Reed songs Songs written by Willie Nelson Songs written by Bobby Braddock Songs written by Curly Putman Novelty songs 1982 songs