From the sublime to the ridiculous, composers
and songwriters have used various birds in
their titles and lyrics. Since music and
birdwatching are two of my greatest pleasures
in life, I thought it would be fun to put the
two together on a page. It will never be
complete. As long as new music is written, some of
it will be about birds! (Please note: This is only a
list. The tiny birds and notes are merely spacers,
not clickable buttons.)
Classical
LeCygne (The Swan)
Saint-Saens
Firebird Suite
Stravinsky
The Thieving Magpie Rossini
Hark! Hark! The Lark Schubert
LaPaloma (The Dove) Yradier
"A Bird Charmer Am I"from The Magic Flute Mozart
The Swallow
Serradell
On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring Delius
The White Peacock Griffes
Swan Lake Ballet Tchaikovsky
The Red Cockatoo Britten
The Startled Bird Couperin
The Sweet White Swan Arcadelt
Concerto for Organ "Cuckoo and Nightingale" Handel
"Peacock" Variations, Op. 15 Kodaly
Child and Cuckoo Lange
The Lady and the Nightingale Granados
Birds of the Underworld, Op.38 Marttinen
Symphonic Poem "The Birds" Respighi
Coq d'Or (The Golden Cockerel)
Rimsky-Korsakov
The Swan of Tounela Sibelius
Romance "The Lark Ascending" Ralph Vaughan
Williams
The Curlew
Peter Warlock
Song of the Lark (from The Seasons) Tchaikovsky
The Seagull (opera) R. Shchedrin
Listen Sweet Dove Grayston Ives
The Nightingale (opera) Stravinsky
Laughing Dove
Josef Strauss
Village Swallows From Austria Josef Strauss
Curlew River
B. Britten
Ah Robin, Gentle Robin Wm. Cornyshe
The Silver Swan O. Gibbons
The Cuckoo L.
Lemlin
Sonata in Imitation of Birds W. Williams
The Sparrow and the Gentle Dove Purcell
String Quartet in C, Op.3 No. 3 "The Bird" Haydn
String Quartet in D, Op.64 No. 5 "The Lark" Haydn
The Awakening of the Birds
Exotic Birds
Catalog of Birds
Above three by Olivier Messiaen
Popular
(With apologies to unknown song writers, I
have listed the artists who recorded some of
these songs.)
Blackbird The
Beatles
Let's All Sing Like the Birdies Sing Ben
Bernie
Bob WhiteBenny
Goodman
Blue Love Bird Kay
Kyser
A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley SquareM.
Sherwin and E. Maschwitz
When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano L. Rene
The Woodpecker Song R.
Campagnola and E. DiLazzaro
What's the Good Word Mr. Bluebird? Peter
Piper
Woody Woodpecker G. Tibbles and R.
Idries
The Hot Canary
Florian Zabach
Mocking Bird Hill V. Horton
Sparrow in the Treetop B. Merrill
Hummingbird
Frankie Laine
Flamingo E.
Anderson and T. Grouya
Gonna Find Me a Bluebird M. Rainwater
Rockin' Robin Bobby Day
Is a Blue Bird Blue? Conway Twitty
Yellow Bird M.
Keith, A. Bergman and N. Luboff
Wings of a Dove R. Ferguson
Fly Robin Fly
Bing Crosby (There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The
White Cliffs of Dover N. Burton and W.
Kent Fly Like An Eagle Seal Bluebird of
Happiness E.
Heyman, H. Davies and S. Harmati
Snowbird G.
MacLellan
When Doves Cry Prince
Tennessee Birdwalk J. Blanchard and M.
Morgan
Lullabye of Birdland B.V. Forster and
G. Shearing
Night Owl
James Taylor
Listen to the Mockingbird Del Wood
Baltimore Oriole George Harrison
Carrier Pigeon J. Fox and S.
Friedman
Skyline Pigeon
E. John and B. Taupin
The Raven E.
Woolfson and A. Parsons
Skylark J.
Mercer and H. Carmichael
The Wise Old Owl Al Donohue Una
Paloma Blanca (White Dove) Los Calis Freebird Lynyrd Skynyrd
Saint-Saens
Stravinsky
