When I read my first review of the “Breach” album–in the August 2000 edition of Revolver Magazine–I was surprised to discover that the album contained a “hidden” track–that is, a track not listed on either the disk or in the accompanying booklet. Even more surprising, as Revolver Magazine reported, the hidden track contained “lilting, children’s-poem lyrics” performed “to a tinkling, music box melody.” In other words, “Babybird” was a lullaby.
Come back babybird/
With your dirty wings in tatters/
Come home where you belong/
Nobody knows you better/
Now bring back your velvet heart/
And we’ll make you brand new feathers/
Sleep through the morning light/
With your arms around your brother
Why did the band decide to keep the song “hidden”? Perhaps because it was so different than any of the other songs on “Breach.” (Face it, the word “lullaby” typically doesn’t come to mind when one thinks of the music of a rock band.) But to the band’s credit, the song earned considerable praise from music critics. (Some critics even lamented that “Babybird” deserved to be mentioned on the tracklist more than some of the other songs on “Breach.”) Thanks to Napster and advance critical notices, “Babybird” became “Breach’s” worst kept secret long before its official release date.
Now outside faces cry/
With the tears of lonesome orphans/
And behind every mask/
is the face of another/
Wherever you have been/
wherever you took cover/
No arms that pulled you in/
could hold you like your mother
What is “Babybird” about? As New York Magazine (“http://www.newyorkmag.com”) noted, “Babybird” is “a subtle but pointed reminder that even though [Jakob Dylan] may always be frozen in the public imagination as Bob Dylan’s son, the likely subject of another famous lullaby, `Forever Young,’ he’s a grown man with his own family and his own career.” The lyrics suggest a father talking to his children–instilling in them the importance of home and family. The father reminds his children that they’ll always be safe and warm in their mother’s arms and will never be alone in the world. There’s also the sense of the father’s pride as he watches his children grow up. There’s plenty of warmth and charm in these lyrics.
When all my colors fade/
And my wings, they’ve turned to leather/
I’ll know the reasons why/
God let me get older/
When all my days are through/
And I fly these hills no longer/
I’ll lay beneath the stars/
And I’ll watch you flying over
While Jakob hasn’t spoken much about the song, he did address it in two noteworthy interviews. In the first, Jakob told the L.A. Times (“http://www.latimes.com”), “This is the kind of song I would have censored in the past because I would have told myself that people are going to draw the connection to ‘Forever Young,’ and I didn’t want to deal with it. The song is my subtle way of turning the table on things at the end of the record. I operate so much under the connection people make of my family, and this song is kind of pushing things forward. It’s like a letter to my wife and children.” And, similarly, in the second interview, Jakob told New York Magazine that “‘Babybird’ is a song that maybe I wouldn’t have put on a record a few years ago. This was my way of turning the tables a little bit: writing a song for my kids as opposed to always being the son of
