Jemaine Clement
Seagull (Live in London)
Tired of this place

I need to get away

It's time for me to go now

I can't stay, no, no, no, no

Just like any bird
I need to spread my wings

And fly across the ocean

See what the new day brings

'Cause I'm a seagull, yeah

In the first verse of this song

The singer, um, portrays
Himself as a free spirit

He does this by using the metaphor

Of a seagull
A creature untethered...
To gravity

No, I can't stay on
This cold, little rock

No, it's time for me to go

My mind's made up

It's the mind of a seagull
Yeah, yeah

'Cause I'm a seagull
I got the mind of a seagull

Yeah

In this fascinating second verse

He talks about leaving a rock

The rock, obviously
Represents a relationship

Which has grown cold
And uninhabitable
Wanna fly up in the sky

There's something more I seek

I wanna feel the warmth of the
Morning sun across my beak

'Cause I'm a seagull, yeah, yeah

I got a beak, yeah, yeah

This verse, he talks about

Leaving the rock again

Well, the relationship, obviously

Feeling the sun on his beak

The beak is, obviously, a
Phallic symbol. It's his penis

I'm a seagull

A seagull I will always be
Dive into the ocean

Dip my beak into the sea

Oh, here we go now

I'm a seagull, yeah, yeah

I'm trying to lift this piano

I'm trying to lift it
With my hopeless wings

Damn these feathered things
Ah, no, no, no

Feathered curse of being
A seagull, yeah, yeah

I have absolutely no idea
What he's talking about now

One day I found this piano

It washed up on this
Cold, little rock

Since that day, I've been
Playing my piano nonstop

'Cause I'm a piano playing seagull

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

I'm totally confused

Uh, he seems to be mixing
Metaphors here with the piano

What's--what's the piano
A metaphor for?

Is that--is that a lost dream?

Or what's the--?

Sorry, what's the-- Excuse me

We're just doing an
Analysis of the song

-What's the piano a metaphor for?
-No, the piano is a piano

Yeah, it's literally a piano
Yeah, yeah, yeah

It's just a piano?

Yeah, that's right, it's a piano

-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I-s the rock a relationship

That has grown cold over time?

The rock is just a rock

So, the beak isn't
Phallic symbolism?

No, no

The beak is not my cock, no, no

So this is just a song about

A very musical seagull?

I'm literally a keyboard
Playin' seabird

That sings

I keep on playin'

Seabird playin' my piano

With my wings, oh

Literally, a seagull, yeah

Who sometimes shits on people, yeah

Literally a seagull, yeah

Piano solo! Yeah!

Oh, I wish I had some fingers

Oh, damn these feathered things

Literally, a seagull, yeah, yeah

Everybody!

Literally, a seagull, yeah, yeah

Literally, a keyboard
Playin' seabird

That sings