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Walking down Gower Street one Sunday evening,
I saw a little bird at the foot of a building;
He was tryin' to fly but his wings wouldn't let him.
She brought him back to the house so the cats wouldn't get him.
I held him in my hand and I took him back home,
His tiny heart beating fast against my thumb;
He was stunned and confused but I thought this would pass.
She put him in a soft cardboard box with some grass.
I kept an eye on me bird all through the night,
Hoping that he'd come around and take flight;
He wouldn't drink water or eat anything.
He just stood still, head tucked under his wing.
Well, I live downtown and I don't have a backyard,
Diggin' for worms is hard;
I phoned up me brother who was comin' this way.
Could he bring her some night crawlers from out around the bay?
I put the bird in the box next to me bed on the floor,
When I drifted off it was quarter past four;
About twenty to nine I opened my eyes.
When she looked in the box, the bird tipped over on his side.
Lyin' in the grass, head tucked under his wing,
I never got to hear little bird sing;
Not the gig in him, no heartbeat, nothin'.
She should have left him for the cats and saved him all the sufferin'.
I picked him up gently and I said a little prayer;
Now he's in a Sobeys bag in the garbage can downstairs.
Dead bird in the garbage. - Nowhere to bury him.
Wrapped in a Sobeys bag. - Dead bird in the garbage.
Heavy on her conscience. - Dead bird in the garbage.
Wrapped in a Sobeys bag. - Shut up about the Sobey's bag!
Little bird in the garbage. - Dead bird in the garbage.
Nowhere to bury him. - Dead bird in the garbage.
I got no back yard.
Recorded by Colleen Power (Rejects, trk#8, 2008, Bay Girl Music, St. John's, NL, produced and recorded by Colleen Power at Bay Girl Music Studio on Brazil Street).
The YouTube video above features a music video directed by Roger Maunder and Colleen Power, starring: Wish Crosby - Roger Maunder; Flo Murphy - Colleen Power; Buddy on accordion - Geoff Panting; Brudder Around da Bay - John "Q" Quinton; Downtown homeowner - Jeff Ryan.
From the Dictionary of Newfoundland English:
Gig - ¹ slight sound; usually after negative. ² slight sign of life; tremor, movement.
From Wikipedia:
Sobeys - second largest food retailer in Canada, with over 1,300 supermarkets operating under a variety of banners. Headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, it operates stores in all ten provinces and accumulated sales of more than $14 billion CAD in 2009. It is part of the conglomerate Empire Company Limited.
