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Red​-​winged Blackbird

from Birdsong by The Quiet-Loud Machine

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about

There were a bunch of red-winged blackbirds flying over cattails just outside the veterinary emergency hospital I had to take my cat to last year. I felt a world away from myself: east-coast small animal care being ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like the rural vet service I grew up in. And yet: the birds were there. The same kind of birds that hug the ditches and fields 2000 miles away, in this same great big, complicated country.

Like most birds, red-winged blackbirds are so fun to watch! Flying looks so freeing and exhilarating. It's also easy to recognize with this bird: they swoop, then rapidly beat their wings, then glide again. Beat-beat-glide.
Beat-beat-glide. Often traveling in small flocks, vocalizing their distinct: conk-a-ree, conk-a-ree! The males' red-shoulders flashing by.

How is it possible that we get to live on a planet with so many fascinating creatures and why do I forget about this over and over again: these simple miracles? Flying about us everywhere with real muticolored wings, sharp beaks and beating hearts? Love, L

lyrics

Red winged blackbird: where are you going?
Red winged blackbird: where have you been?
Big sky – butterflies, hills that keep rolling.
Just driving by, you caught my eye, as we hit a bend…

I’ve got the good Earth right under my feet,
a big blue sky right over my head,
a million miracles in between: there’s enough to go round.

Gravel roads, driving slow, twisting and turning.
Speeding up, then down the hill. It’s not so bad.
Corn tassels and tiger lilies: dancing wildly in the breeze.
Roll the window down and stop looking so sad!

I’ve got the good Earth right under my feet,
a big blue sky right over my head,
a million miracles in between: there’s enough to go round.

Scat-round:

The chase is on…. I’ll follow you …up, down,
and around…the chase is on.
The chase is on…… I’ll follow you under…
deep deep down into the everlasting ground.

So don’t box me in! Don’t package me up!
You can’t brand-this-shit! You can’t figure-it up!
Don’t narrow me down. I refuse to choose.
I’ll swoop with the birds through the great wide blue…
through the great wide blue!

I'll swoop with the birds through the great wide blue...
Through the great, the great, the great wide blue...

credits

from Birdsong, released October 1, 2023
lyrics, vocals, guitar - Leah
Orchestral background, production - Tea So Cold
Red Winged Blackbird recordings:
in Hopkinton, Iowa and Sunderland, MA

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The Quiet-Loud Machine Easthampton, Massachusetts

Bridging the rural-urban divide, the Quiet-Loud Machine blends sounds of the city with sounds of the countryside.

Like her collaborator, the beat-smith, Tea So Cold, Leah Nichole loves working on concept albums and experimenting with a variety of styles and genres. So far these include alt-country, indie-folk-pop, the sounds of nature, and classical piano. ... more

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