FLOOD | Page 24

Havin g a Fami ly “Valleys of the Young” was definitely inspired by starting my family. You’ve got people on either side of this age precipice and they go from not wanting to look forward on one side of the divide to kind of hating people on the other side from two years before. There is a selfabsorbed quality to starting a family. [This track is] just all about the disconnect between former friends. I h av e a l a c k o f pat i e n c e for my own i m a g i n at i o n t h e s e d ay s . I wanted to write the song in a way that wasn’t just like, “Oh, Andrew Bird grows up.” I wanted to make sure that my former self would have to pay attention to it as well. The lyrics are pretty plain spoken; I didn’t just want it to be for a certain group of people in a certain place [and time in their lives]. And that last part—“Now, you’re going on 64, driving down 65”—pushes “Valleys of the Young” further beyond “I hate that you’re having brunch when I’ve been up since five in the morning” and that kind of urbane stuff. There’s that part where it says that your heart is constantly breaking, and that sounds so bleak, but really there’s humor underneath that. In your twenties, you’re going from one heartbreak to another and it’s so dramatic, but really, you don’t even know! This is going to be the rest of your life. This little person that you create is going to keep your heart perpetually broken for the rest of your life. So the real drama is not in your twenties; it’s going to come later and you have to be ready for it. 22 FLOOD