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