Sovay?
What is Sovay anyway? I mean, besides the Andrew Bird song.
I have a lot of interviews and reviews to wade through before I find the answer, but preliminary research turns up the following:
“Sovay” is the name of the album’s first song, but don’t run off to look up the word in a dictionary; not knowing what the word means, says Bird, is what makes it so much fun. In an interview, Bird explained that the song was born during a time of writer’s block. Thinking that his muse had left him, Bird cracked open a volume of old English poetry and came across the mysterious word that serves as this song’s title. Bird had no idea what he meant, but, for whatever reason, the song seemed to flood him with inspiration, and the great songs began gushing out. It’s an easy-going, lilting little pop song about fighting back against the forces that seek to contain and confine creativity. It’s a song about the tricky nature of inspiration. It’s a song about something happening that’s never happened before… “and a word washed ashore…”
Of course, a straight Google search is instructive, turning up this:
Sovay, Sovay all on a day
She dressed herself in man’s array
With a sword and pistol all by her side
To meet her true love, to meet her true love, away did rideAs she was riding over the plain
She met her true love and bid him stand
“Your gold and silver, kind Sir,” she said
“Or else this moment, or else this moment, your life I’ll have”
Which has some interesting thematic resonance with Mr. Bird’s version; it’s a stretch, but perhaps that’s why I find it interesting:
sovay, sovay,sovay
all along the dayI was getting ready to consider my next plan of attack
I think I’m gonna sack
the whole board of trustees
all those Don Quixotes and their B-17s
and I swear this time
yeah this time
they’ll blow us back to the 70’s
and this time
they’re playin Ride of the Valkyries
with no semblance of grace or ease
and they’re acting on vagaries
with their violent proclivities
and they’re playing ride
Ride of the Valkyries
sovay,sovay,sovay
all along the day
May 15th, 2006 at 7:00 am
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!
May 23rd, 2006 at 12:35 pm
You should know that both times we passed signs for Solvay, NY in the past week, we belted out this song.
August 24th, 2006 at 3:44 pm
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?
September 29th, 2006 at 1:47 am
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.
October 29th, 2006 at 1:51 am
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.
January 23rd, 2007 at 3:36 am
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.
January 23rd, 2007 at 3:26 pm
I don’t think it’s all that veiled, Zeropluslessthan; the B-17’s is a little bit of a give-away…
April 26th, 2007 at 9:21 am
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.
May 30th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
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
May 31st, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Sovay, such is the cross that those of us with “interesting” names have to bear. I got years of “Better than Ezra!”.