Chronic Illness Playlist: Sia's"Bird Set Free"

Heather Danielle Ashley
Oct 14, 2016
3 min read

So I have been toying around with this idea where I will take a song and deconstruct it and relate it to living with chronic illness. I listen to so much music of all kinds and a lot of times I find myself relating to a song due to my chronic illness. I think that this is a thing I am going to start doing every Friday. I know that these songs are not about chronic illness and pain whatsoever, but I think they can have a good message if you take the time to hear it.

I will start my segment out with a surprisingly incisive song by Sia called "Bird Set Free". Many people only hear Sia's singles on the radio and don't realize that she has some deeper sounding stuff (in terms of lyrics) on her albums. When I listen to Bird Set Free I am imagining a battle against who I am/who I want to be versus what my chronic illness makes me. I feel like the lyrics "Clipped wings, I was a broken thing" is my chronic illness. She later says "There's a scream inside that we all try to hide, we hold on so tight, but I don't want to die." and when I hear that I imagine that is my inner voice wanting to scream out to Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (et al) that I want to live, but I want to have a life worth living. The chorus of the song goes "I don't care if I sing off key, I've got myself and my melodies, I sing for love, I sing for me, I shout it out like a bird set free." and I imagine this is me telling my chronic illness and pain to back off because even though they may feel like a cage, I want to live like a bird set free. Am I reading way too much into Sia's lyrics...probably but I am a poet, that is what I do. Here are the lyrics to Bird Set Free. FYI this isn't the last you will be hearing about Sia, but I will save those for a day in the future.

"Clipped wings, I was a broken thing Had a voice, had a voice but I could not sing You would wind me down I struggled on the ground So lost, the line had been crossed Had a voice, had a voice but I could not talk You held me down I struggle to fly now

But there's a scream inside that we all try to hide We hold on so tight, we cannot deny Eats us alive, oh it eats us alive Yes, there's a scream inside that we all try to hide We hold on so tight, but I don't wanna die, no I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die

And I don't care if I sing off key I find myself in my melodies I sing for love, I sing for me I shout it out like a bird set free No I don't care if I sing off key I find myself in my melodies I sing for love, I sing for me I'll shout it out like a bird set free I'll shout it out like a bird set free I'll shout it out like a bird set free

Now I fly, hit the high notes I have a voice, have a voice, hear me roar tonight You held me down But I fought back loud

But there's a scream inside that we all try to hide We hold on so tight, we cannot deny Eats us alive, oh it eats us alive Yes, there's a scream inside that we all try to hide We hold on so tight, but I don't wanna die, no I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die