Incredible.

In my opinion, this is one of the best anti-war songs of all-time.

sends shivers down my spine. think sufjan stevens, jack johnson, and radiohead.

im with seago. i mean this song is up thier with dylan. damn this song is good....

http://sniff.numachi.com/~rickheit/dtrad/pages/tiSOVAY;ttSOVAY.html

i get that its anti war but i still dont get what its about. and i dont know what proclivities are.

Proclivities are like tendencies.

Get to know your dictionary instead of just saying you don't know something.

i had figured that, being it sounded like proclamations. i still dont understand the song though.

1 Reply

i didnt know proposals had a dictionary built into the back of his brain. dont be an ass.

I chime in with seago; Bird’s “Sovay” is a song which—if you can put these things on a linear scale—rivals Costello’s “Shipbuilding” for antiwar lyric power. Add to this the fact that it possesses an understated musical depth, and you’ve got something very precious.

There seems to be a little bewilderment among the prior posts, so I’ll undertake a little exegesis.

First stanza: This one’s relatively vague; later he’ll start to come on strong. At his point we’re in the vestibule of the mansion which is the depth of feeling about what he sees going on. It’s a general statement reflecting the fight against the suicidal attitude of powerlessness in the face of a huge evil. The powers that be would very much prefer that people like Bird would just go ahead and kill themselves. A spiritual death would be just fine, thank you very much; no need to get out the razor blades. If folks like Bird would comply, the crooked path would be a little straighter for them. Bird seems to successfully fight off this impulse, stand back, reflect, observe that history is repeating itself (it is), then is given a precious gift: The gift of “a word;” which washes to the shores of the collective mind. He beach-combs this word, then vouchsafes it to us in the form of a song, which he calls “Sovay.”

Bridge: Sorry, don’t know what “Sovay” means. I could cheat, and google it, but I won’t.

Second and third stanzas: OK, here’s where he names names: He’s ready for action. The “Board of Trustees” he’s about to sack are, of course, the present-day souls entrusted to oversee our grand American experiment. At the time when Bird wrote this song, it was the Bush II administration. These pricks may be Don Quixotes, but frankly I think they probably see clearer what the stakes are than the average American. It’s the American public that these adventitious parasites (like Carl Rove) are particularly skilled at getting to psychotically tilt at their fabricated windmills; laughable windmills such as, say, Iraqi WMD (while ignoring our own very existent WMD); Iraq as an immanent threat to the U.S.; the notion that Russia’s, Germany’s, and France’s weighings-in on matters of global import are plainly to be scoffed at (“Freedom Fries,” and Rumsfeld’s “Old Europe” comments); etc. “Acting on vagaries,” indeed! All this and more: We can’t laugh it off. These guys have access to the chain of command and the U.S.’s unparalleled coercive power. Bird may be a showing himself a little behind the times with the reference to B17s, but he can be forgiven: We need less omnivorously, anally, preening power-apologetic Clancys and more positively, honestly spiritual Birds. Anyway, half the top dogs in the Bush II admin are dogged, tempered power jackals from the Reagan Era. Their violent proclivities were firmly established from adventures in Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, etc., This crew is quite fit to blow us back to the eighties, although inertia could cause us to overshoot and find ourselves back in the seventies, as Bird asserts: I almost want to ask him if he had the 1470’s in mind. The reference to Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries is dark, sinister, and should shake us to our cores: Is this a needed prod to turn and look at something almost impossible to face; that what underlies this rising official will-to-global-dominance is something with a racial tinge; a new and popularly “mandated” Manifest Destiny?; a new kind of White Man’s Burden, where the new “white man” is the one who fully understands the possibilities—nay, the necessities—of power, privilege, and control?

Well, I guess that sums it up for me. I think I hit all the key expressions. Hope this helps someone!

http://realfake.org/blog/2005/11/17/sovay/

http://www.andrewbird.net/Q&A-eggs.htm
Q: Speaking of titles, what’s the meaning of the word “Sovay”?

A: Well, I always prefer to misunderstand songs. I think a lot of great things come out of misunderstandings. That’s why I love Charlie Patton. I’d rather not get a lyric sheet. I’d rather misunderstand what he’s saying and have it be a spark for a new song. So anyway, in this case, “Sovay” was from an old English Childe ballad—“Sovay, Sovay, all along the day”…something about some highwayman or something—but I never bothered to research it, and I never knew what it meant; it was mysterious. I was working on this song, and suddenly that word popped out. I was looking for a new word to describe unprecedented circumstances, and that word had not been defined for me, so it fit the bill and it sounded good. It’s a new word.

Sorry for the double post. Thought that was relevant

Like in pnestojko's comment, Andrew Bird has said many times that he doesn't know what the word "sovay" means. This, to me, says that the meaning of the word (which may not even exist anyway) is not really important. Instead of drawing power from the meaning of the words in the song, we should draw it from the feeling of the words.
"Sovay" is something of a soft word, it sort of rolls off the tongue. Combined with the music, it sort of evokes feelings of peace and calm in me.

That's what is important. I would agree that this is an anti-war song, except I don't think it's anti- anything at all. Instead, I'd call it pro-peace. This may or may not be what Andrew intended the song to mean, but I think it is contradicting the idea of "waging peace" that so many other anti-war songs exhibit.
Fighting back, even if it's for good purposes, even if it's nonviolent, is still fighting back. Conflict is what leads to violence and war. After all, fighting fire with fire just causes more burning. If people just stepped back for a minute and looked in on the world we live in, they'd realize that fighting has never gotten us anywhere, and neither has fighting against fighting. Look at Iraq today. We brought violence and warfare to the country in an attempt to stop violence and warfare caused by a dictator. And what has happened? More violence and warfare have spawned in the form of an insurgency. Continuing this way of dealing with the world is only going make the cycle repeat more. If we all just took it easy and accepted that we can't and shouldn't always be in control, people would be at peace, and there would be no more reason to fight.

I came up with an interesting interpretation for some of the more specific parts of the song: the narrator is at some sort of anti-war protest, perhaps preparing to do some sort of reenactment. All he can think about is how if he were in control, he'd fire all of those war-mongerers that have been in power. They are fighting against an enemy that they created in their minds, like Don Quixote and the windmills.
Playing Ride of the Valkyries is an interesting reference. Hitler played Ride of the Valkyries to his troops to get their adrenaline pumping in WWII. When people's minds are in a state like that, they act rashly and are less likely to think about what they are doing. I think it is also worth it to mention Valkyries themselves. Valkyries were warrior-women demigods from Norse mythology, who took battle heroes up to Valhalla (where the gods lived.) A doomed soldier would see a Valkyrie just before he died. This brings the whole concept of righteousness and religion into play. We are no longer fighting for material things, we are fighting because of a divine purpose. I think this is relevant because one could easily make the case that the U.S. involvement in the middle east is basically a holy war... the clash of two cultures, one predominantly Muslim and the other predominantly Christian, both feeling that their religion has the moral superiority.
Anyway, he wants to fight against and fire those who have been pushing the war. Because if he were in power, everything would change, right?
Next, a thought strikes him... he feels like he's been doing this before. And he has. We've been protesting wars forever, and they still continue to happen. This is something of a revelation for him- we have been doing this forever, why would it change this time?
So instead of going along with his original battle plan for peace (...ha...), he has a new idea: simply being at peace to promote peace.

Maybe this works, and maybe it doesn't. I say: it's worth a shot!

razajac: wow, nice post :) It's hard to sound intelligent in the wake of something like that, hehe

Don't have much else to contribute to this analysis, only this: I think Bird's mention of Ride of the Valkyries is more likely a reference to Apocalypse Now, where Kilgore's unit plays the piece as they fly their helicopters into battle in Vietnam. A much more apt (and applicable) reference than Hitler, considering the general theme.

I specially like this song when he plays it on the Black Sessions.

This is perfect rainy day music.

I think it's "riding on a pair of sixes in this heavy handed metaphor", because a pair of sixes isn't a very good poker hand, especially in a "heavy handed" metaphor.

Lots of interesting stuff here, bobwronski and razajac particularly; I think another layer to add to the "Ride of the Valkyries" reference is the veritable plethora of Vietnam and other war movies that play that specific Wagnerian piece while helicopters strafe villiages (Think Apocalypse Now) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ride_of_the_Valkyries_in_popular_culture

I had to do this for a poetry project:


Background
Andrew Bird is one of the many artists currently opening up the genre of “neo-folk.” Bird wrote Sovay during a time where he was going through some major writer’s block. The word may not have an actual definition, but Bird likes that idea. “Not knowing what the word means,” Bird said in an interview, “Is what makes it so much fun.” It was rumored that Bird had gotten his inspiration from an old English poem, where he first spotted the word. Despite this rumor, similarities exist between Bird’s song and Martin Carthy’s song that is also titled Sovay. Carthy was a folk singer in the 1960’s, who like Bird, wanted to revive the folk genre.
Whatever the case, Andrew Bird’s song has separate meaning; it is a modern day antiwar song.

Breaking down the poem and analysis:

I was getting ready to be a threat,
"Threat refers to being an enemy or scare to someone else. He says “getting ready” to indicate that he is just entering the war."
I was getting set for my accidental suicide,
"Bird compares fighting in the war to committing suicide. You enlisted, and you joined the war. The people who died because they chose to be there, in a sense, have commited suicide.
The kind where no one dies,
No one looks too surprised,
"It’s a sad but true fact; people are expected to die in the war. "No one dies" is sort of ambiguous. It can mean those in the war have a lasting legacy, or because their are so many deaths they often get over looked, or that no one considers the death of those fighting, but they just consider the idea of war"
Then you realize that you're riding on a para-success of a heavy-handed metaphor,
"War doesn’t generate success; in fact it may result in the opposite."
And a feeling like you've been here before,
Because you've been here before,
And you've been here before,
"Wars in the past have never ended well. Whether your side wins or loses, in the end, it seems a little foolish."
Then a word washed ashore,
A word washed ashore,
Then a word washed ashore,

Sovay, sovay, sovay
All along the day
"Sovay acts as hope. The word cannot be defined, but the way it sounds is nice. The word glides off the tongue and brings a pleasant note to an awful topic."

I was getting ready to consider my next plan of attack,
I think I'm gonna sack the whole board of trustees,
"The board of trustees he is referring to is the very own people who make certain decisions such as…whether or not America should go to war."
All those Don Quixote and their B-17s
"This part of the poem is where a lot of allusions come in. Don Quixote is a character from a book written by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Don Quixote’s real name is Alonso Quixano, but after reading a lot of stories about fighting, and brave knights, he goes mad and thinks himself to be a knight. He changes his name to Don Quixote de la Mancha. He devotes his life to fighting against injustices. B-17 (Flying Fortress) was the first mass produced bomber. It was used during early strategic bombings. "
And I swear this time,
Yeah this time,
They'll blow us back to the 70's,
And this time they're playin Ride of the Valkyries
"Valkyries come from Norse Mythology. They were female deities who carried the most heroic and brave men who had fought and died in battle back to Odin (the main god in Norse mythology), where Odin would have them fight by his side."
With no semblance of grace or ease
And they're acting on vagaries
"Vagary= An extravagant or erratic notion or action."
With their violent proclivities
"Proclivities=natural tendencies and inclination."
And they're playing ride
Ride of the Valkyries

Sovay, sovay, sovay
all along the day

i always thought you're riding on the paris express.
it sounded nice.

Attackoftheheart is right on. I just have one thing for ya'll to ponder: Although, A. Bird says that the word "sovay" was mysterious at first, it seems like it has a definition in the song. Take the word "soviet" which means "governing council"; sovay and soviet seem to be extremely related. "ay" means "yes" in many cultures. So, could sovay mean something like "govern? yes". A question and answer in the definition of the word. In other words, attack a nation, set up a governement...yes that sounds good and would be best for them (Iraq). It's a sarcastic word in response to the belief that setting up a government is the best option for Other countries. - Let me know what you think

Most often, the feeling I get from the song is certainly not what the artist intended, but as Andrew Bird appears to enjoy this notion, I will explain what these lyrics have done to my mind, just now:

They make me think about war and politics and the way all these things are studied so intensly. Politicians don't act as humans. they are ochestrated, playing for some higher goal, in the meantime taking lives.

Anyway, I hate politics and yet it is equated with intelligence. I try to interest myself as I don't want to be deemed as ignorant, and yet I can't find myself being interested. I find that I hate politics. How personal and yet non-human it is. It's very strange, and I don't find it helpful or appealing. All the lyrics, the stanzas, say this to me. They're agreeing with me.

And then the word washed up, and when he sings sovay, it is so pretty, and like he says mysterious. I think it most definintly symbolizes beauty, hope. A very human feeling. Something you don't find in politics. Life, dancing in the summer night to fragrant flower weddings of your sister, or looking at the beach from a car and feeling warm, or any of these feelings. Feeling infinite. That's what sovay means, and that is the opposite of war and of politics and of the governement.

Sovay.

Sovay is the name of a girl... the subject of the poem/song he was reading.

"Sovay, Sovay all on a day
She dressed herself in man's array
With a sword and pistol all by her side
To meet her true love, to meet her true love, away did ride"

For more accurate Andrew Bird lyrics and community commentary, etc. go check out:
www.AndrewBird.org

though the meaning has nothing to do with it really, i could see people falling in love to this song.