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The TMBG FAQ

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Jonathan Chaffer

J. D. Crutchfield

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Creede Lambard

Robert Watkins

It is almost indisputable that "Birdhouse in Your Soul" is about a nightlight. Not only does the song support this, the Johns themselves have confirmed this in interviews. The details of the song are a little more complicated, but that is the song in a nutshell.

The nightlight in question is shaped like a blue canary. The song is most likely sung from the perspective of the light to its owner, with the intent of making the owner love his/her light more. To make a little birdhouse in his/her soul, if you will.

The opening lines of the song are pretty much gibberish. They are contradictory, and the only meaning we can glean from them are the "glowing friend" part, which is a prelude for the story of the nightlight.

We begin right off with the chorus. It is a simple entreaty by the nightlight to be loved by its owner. It does contain a little pun, in using the phrase "bees in your bonnet" in a nonstandard way.

On to the first verse. There is no actual information given here; rather, it is just another introduction to the chorus, which contains the real meaning of the song. One point that is not clearly understood is the reference to the Longines Symphonette. Apparently, Longines was a company that made watches. Conflicting views have been posted that state that the Longines Symphonette was either a piece of music without rests, a series of concerts sponsored by Longines, or the name of a company or division of Longines that produces records and put out TV commercials. If anyone has any real evidence to support one of these theories, please submit it so this issue can be settled. Anyway, whatever it is, it doesn't rest. ;-)

The next verse is an amusing piece of poetry. The nightlight is observing a picture on the opposite wall of the room. The picture is that of a lighthouse. A lighthouse can be considered to be the "ancestor" of the nightlight. The nightlight hypothesizes that if he were in that position, he would fail at his job. Jason and the Argonauts, of course, were sailors. If the lighthouse failed, Jason could not see the rocks, and so would crash and be killed. It is also possible that the song is more specifically referring to the story in which Jason sent a dove ahead of his ship to guide him safely through a sea passageway. This makes some sense because a bird-shaped object is speaking.

There is an Emily Dickinson poem that is strikingly similar to the object of this poem, and may have been a partial inspiration:

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

If read at a slightly different level, this song may be a love ballad. The singer could be asking for a little place in his beloved's heart. Or, equivalently, it could be a simple friendship song.

Other (very unlikely) interpretations would have it that the song is about nuclear power or electricity.