What do Twilight, Iron & Wine, Flightless Birds, and Shepherd’s Dogs all have in common?

Image by songbirdsings via Flickr

I saw the movie Twilight on opening day this past Friday. I apologize in advance if you enjoyed it (you are entitled to your opinion and your enjoyment), because my friends and I would like to nominate it for most-laugh-out-loud-BAD movie of the year. I know the books are ridiculously popular, but everyone I know who read them or tried to read them (tried, not succeeded, because it was too bad for them to continue) told me that the books are awful. One friend said, “It’s a really interesting story that’s really badly executed.” I think that statement sums up my feelings toward the movie quite well.

I do have a few nice things to say about Twilight, though. I love mythology and animal-related mythologems, and the werewolf theme really intrigued me. If wolves or werewolves interest you too, you might be interested in reading these articles:

Is There a Cure for Wolf Sydrome: http://www.examiner.com/x-1814-Paranormal-Examiner~y2008m11d21-Is-there-a-cure-for-werewolf-syndrome
Scientists Find ‘Cure’ for ‘Werewolf Boy’: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/3482271/Scientists-find-cure-for-werewolf-boy.html
Wolves, Coyotes Often Confused: http://www.beloitdailynews.com/articles/2008/11/21/news/local_news/news03.txt

Twilight also seems to have a really great soundtrack, which features one of my favorite musicians, Iron & Wine. What does Iron and Wine have to do with animals? Well, the song in Twilight is entitled “Flightless Bird, American Mouth,” and the lyrics say “Have I found you, flightless bird, grounded, bleeding? Or lost you, American mouth?” Like many musicians, Sam Beam (aka Iron & Wine) refers to animals quite often in his lyrics and titles (animals make great simile and metaphor fodder). In fact, the song “Flightless Bird, American Mouth” is from his latest album, which has a title that also nods to animals: it’s called “Shepherd’s Dog.”

Here’s a YouTube video of the song:

I saw Iron & Wine play at Workplay in Birmingham, Alabama last night (Blitzen Trapper opened for him - could there be another animal reference hidden here? Remember Blitzen the reindeer?). The show was wonderful, but I prefer the raw, acoustic sounds of his earlier albums to the fuller sound of “Shepherd’s Dog.”

I made a list of my favorite Iron & Wine songs that mention animals in their titles or lyrics. The song clips will rotate through this box - just press the play button to hear. I hope you enjoy them!