Three Little Birds

"Three Little Birds" is a song by Bob Marley and the Wailers. It is the fourth track on side two of their 1977 album Exodus and was released as a single in 1980. The song reached the Top 20 in the UK, peaking at number 17. It is one of Bob Marley's most popular songs. The song has been covered by numerous other artists.

Writing and inspiration

The source of Marley's inspiration for the lyrics of "Three Little Birds" remains disputed. They are partly inspired by birds that Marley was fond of, that used to fly and sit next to his home. Tony Gilbert, a long time friend of Marley, was present at the time he was writing the song and elaborated, "Bob got inspired by a lot of things around him, he observed life. I remember the three little birds. They were pretty birds, Pelicans, who would come by the windowsill at Hope Road." However, three female singers from the reggae group I Threes who did shows with Marley claim it is a reference to them. I Threes member Marcia Griffiths remarked, "After the song was written, Bob would always refer to us as the Three Little Birds. After a show, there would be an encore, sometimes people even wanted us to go back onstage four times. Bob would still want to go back and he would say, 'What is my Four Pelicans saying?'"

Little Birds

Little Birds is Anaïs Nin's second published work of erotica, which appeared in 1979 two years after her death, but was apparently written in the early 1940s when she was part of a group "writing pornography for a dollar a day."

The book is a collection of thirteen short stories. The sexual topics covered are quite varied, ranging from pedophilia to lesbianism, but linked by an interest in female subjectivity and in the dialectic of discourse and intercourse. Many of the same characters that appear in Delta of Venus, her first published book of erotica, re-occur here.

Title and themes

The 'little birds' of the title story refer both to the actual birds used by its exhibitionist protagonist to attract young schoolgirls to his attic, and (metaphorically) to the girls' flight when he finally exposes himself.

In other stories, Nin calls into question the objectifying tendencies of the male gaze; both male and female complicity in masochism; and the pornographic genre itself through her subtle subversion.

Little Birds (film)

Little Birds is a 2012 American film written and directed by Elgin James, and starring Juno Temple and Kay Panabaker. The film follows two girls that leave home to follow two skateboarders to Los Angeles and is loosely based on the life of director Elgin James. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, with Millennium Entertainment acquiring the North American rights to the film.

Synopsis

Lily (Juno Temple) and Alison (Kay Panabaker) are best friends living in a poverty-stricken California town near the Salton Sea. The two are complete opposites: Lily, is a suicidal rebellious girl who lives with her single mother, Margaret (Leslie Mann) while Alison is a cautious and careful girl who lives with her alcoholic dad. Alison finds solace under her uncle Hogan's (Neal McDonough) automotives and horses while Lily wants to flee her troubled home life as soon as possible. Together, the two girls venture into their secluded town and join skateboarding boys from Los Angeles: Louis (Carlos Pena, Jr.), David (Chris Coy) and Jesse (Kyle Gallner) with whom Lily soon becomes smitten. Before the boys leave, Jesse kisses Lily and writes his number onto her arm, which upsets Alison.

Little Birds (song)

Little Birds is the fourth single by American psych folk band Neutral Milk Hotel, released in 2011 as part of their Walking Wall of Words compilation package which contains two versions of the previously unreleased song. Both the studio version and the live version were performed solely by Jeff Mangum. The studio version of the song was recorded by friend and regular collaborator Robert Schneider and engineered by Craig Morris while the live version of the song was recorded by filmmaker and cinematographer Lance Bangs. The record is dedicated to University of Wyoming murder victim Matthew Shepard. The album art was designed by Mangum and Mark Ohe.

Background

"Little Birds" is one of the only two known songs by Neutral Milk Hotel written after the release of In the Aeroplane over the Sea of which a recorded version exists. It is also the only post-Aeroplane song that has been performed in public. Jeff Mangum played the song live and before the song described what it was about: