And I don't know where I stand
Not since someone informed me
That my house was built on sand
And it's not the earth beneath me
It's just the concept of the land
And I'm standing on the corner
When the buildings they all fell
If you blink once you're a goner
Everything just goes pell-mell
It's a real hard sell
My conceptual hell
Not even good for kindling
When the buildings they all fell
I'm a breather mail receiver
Bottom feader just getting by
And you know it's all just par for the course
But you blame it on some non-existent force
Oh yeah, of course
You know you can't ride the concept of the horse
But still I try
In a cartoon desert landscape
With a pair of ACME jetskates
Focused on my destination
I seem to have forgot my station
Now it's time to face the nation
And I'm riding to meet you
On a brown gray speckled mare
But there's something that unnerves me
Like I'm riding on thin air
These few doubts disserve me
Thinking no one really cares
And I'm jumping over fences
On this obstacle course
But it seems I'm getting nowhere
On the concept of the horse
It's a real hard sell
My conceptual hell
Not even good for kindling
When the buildings they all fell
I'm a breather
Bottom feader
How many liters
Must I imbibe
And you know it's all just par for the course
But you blame it on some non-existent force
Oh yeah, of course
You know you can't ride the concept of the horse
But still I try
Andrew Wegman Bird (born July 11, 1973) is an American indie rock multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Since 1996, he has released 16 studio albums, as well as several live albums and EPs, spanning various genres including swing music, indie rock, and folk music. He is primarily known for his unique style of violin playing, accompanied by loop and effect pedals, whistling, and voice. In the 1990s, he sang and played violin in several jazz ensembles, including Squirrel Nut Zippers and Kevin O'Donnell's Quality Six. He went on to start his own swing ensemble, Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire, which released three albums between 1998 and 2001. Weather Systems (2003) was his first solo album after Bowl of Fire disbandment, and it marked a departure from jazz music into indie music. Bird's 2019 album My Finest Work Yet was nominated for "Best Folk Album" at the 2020 Grammy Awards.
Beyond his own record releases, he has collaborated with various artists, including The Handsome Family, Dosh, Fiona Apple, and Nora O'Connor.
He has also had a career in film, as a soundtrack composer as well as an actor. He appeared as "Dr. Stringz" in a 2007 episode of Jack's Big Music Show. In 2010, he appeared on a TED Talk performing his music. He wrote and performed "The Whistling Caruso" for The Muppets movie in 2011, and composed the score for the television series Baskets, released in 2016. In 2019, Andrew Bird was cast for the fourth installment of Fargo, playing, "a character, written specifically for him, named 'Thurman Smutney'."
