Comments on: Sovay?

By: Ezra

Ezra — Thu, 31 May 2007 18:45:13 +0000

Sovay, such is the cross that those of us with “interesting” names have to bear. I got years of “Better than Ezra!”.

By: SOVAY!!!

SOVAY!!! — Wed, 30 May 2007 20:41:06 +0000

Grrrrr, you people need to listen to me!!! My actual name IS Sovay!!! Like, Im not kidding!!! Its not like my internet identity or anything! I was just randomly searching my name on google and this came up!!! I need everyone to understand that Sovay is just a name, nothing else, or mysterious or anything… Its the name of the girl who dressed up like a guy to trick her true love! I really hope i wouldnt do that, but that is the person i am named after!!! and believe me, i get alot of questions about my “interesting” name

By: Nathan

Nathan — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 14:21:58 +0000

The mystery is what gives the song so much flavor. The fact that we all came here looking for the answer is a testament to Mr. Bird’s music. Lovely, haunting, and delicate. “Playing ride” Mr. Bird. Playing ride.

By: Ezra

Ezra — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 20:26:36 +0000

I don’t think it’s all that veiled, Zeropluslessthan; the B-17’s is a little bit of a give-away…

By: Zeropluslessthan

Zeropluslessthan — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 08:36:17 +0000

I love Andrew Bird’s stuff, and Sovay is a definite highlight. Interesting that it is about writer’s block. I found the ‘violent proclivities / ride of the Valkyries’ lines particularly interesting, because Ride of the Valkyries is the song played over American bombings of Vietnam in ‘Apocalypse Now’. I always assumed that the song was a veiled critique of America’s current imperialistic attitude.

By: JBDz

JBDz — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 06:51:07 +0000

On his streaming live show on WFMU.org, Bird says “It kept reoccuring”. Apparently, he didn’t really know what the word meant and he also kind of side-stepped the question.

By: Sketchgrrl

Sketchgrrl — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 06:47:49 +0000

I’m listening to this song for the first time, after reading that James Spader likes Andrew Bird’s music. (I like Spader’s work.) My name is Judy and the image that comes up on my screen as Sovay is playing looks like my name because of the way the tops of the letters of Sovay are cut off (because they’re above the water). Funny.

By: namarie

namarie — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 20:44:57 +0000

hi, Sovay is just a name for the girl in this song. It is an old english version of sophia, and now there are more different types of that. I happen to know because in fact, my real name is sovay. Isn’t that weird?

By: Editrix

Editrix — Tue, 23 May 2006 17:35:40 +0000

You should know that both times we passed signs for Solvay, NY in the past week, we belted out this song.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 15 May 2006 12:00:58 +0000

I know this is a VERY old post, and perhaps you’ve already figured this out; however, here’s what I know:

That “Old English Poetry” is actually an Old English/Irish folk song, the same one you found. ‘Sovay’ is actually the subject (a girl) of the song’s name. It varies widely, and is thought perhaps to have originally been “sylvia” or “silvie”, but because of such things as time mixed with oral tradition/accents we have ‘Sovay’…

Hope that helps a bit!