King Of Birds

It was actually March Song from the Lifes Rich Pageant re-issue that was my inspiration to cover King Of Birds. Although it's a rough, somewhat tedious, early version of the song, hearing it like this inspired me to feature these raw elements more prominently in my cover. The "marching band" style drums are much more dominant in my cover than they are in the R.E.M. original.

But I knew something was missing and I knew what it was - the dulcimer. But not owning a dulcimer I had to decide whether to imitate this part on acoustic guitar or leave it out completely. I went with the former and I'm semi-pleased with the results. The opening to the song is so much powerful when it follows the dulcimer part than when it just starts with the big drums.

It was also a conscious attempt to tackle something different, I've done a lot of jangly early 1980s songs recently to the point where they almost become quite easy, so I wanted to challenge myself with this one.