TØP Tuesday: "Isle of Flightless Birds" Explained
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- "Isle of Flightless Birds" by Twenty One Pilots is an awesome song and touches me in a very intellectual way. Of course, maybe it wasn't worth a 13.5 minute video, but who knows? Maybe some of you feel the same way about it that I do. In any case, "Isle of Flightless Birds" is deep. The lyrics mean something hugely important, and I hope that you'll enjoy this video. I put heart and soul into explaining this song, and it's one of those songs that gives heart and soul back, so I present to you my explanation of "Isle of Flightless Birds" by Twenty One Pilots.
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Disclaimer: The content of this educational video is covered by fair use. My explanations are transformative and add interpretation and analysis to the original work much as happens when I teach poetry in a university classroom. When I explain songs, I use only the lyrics or short clips of the original song or music video and thus have not hurt this song’s salability or provided a market substitute. All copyright claims will be disputed and appealed. Please see me as your ally in my attempt to use a literary perspective to enable fans to better understand and enjoy your wonderful and interesting piece of music.
I'd never thought about this before, but for some reason this video make me realize that the chorus is really reminiscent of the story of Icharus. Icharus ended up flying too close to the sun, which might be why Tyler opens with the line "I am cold" as if he craves or wants to go the sun somehow. He is flying without hope because he doesn't really believe that he will make it, but also flying without fear because he isn't scared of the sun. Flying too close is what eventually makes him plummet and end up on the Isle of Flightless Birds.
Oh, that makes a lot of sense. Very interesting. I need to go back and re-read the lyrics.
Yeah, I definitely had never thought about it that way before, but I like the interpretation a lot.
Joshua Sumpter that's a better way of looking at it
On top of that, he new that it was wrong to do that, as Daedalus told him not to and to stop. Icarus decided to do what was wrong and ended up paying for it.
Joshua Sumpter lol icharus got cocky and his wings melted and his dad was not sad cause his son was dead but because he didn’t have insurance on his wings
Holding On To You please!!!!!!!!!!!
Jared Weeks yeeeeees
I share your enthusiasm.
Jared Weeks can you do that one next week and can you do Rudy please
Jonathan Sharp I heard somewhere that he's means he's holding onto God
Jared Weeks yes plz do holding knto you
YES PLEASE DO HOLDING ON TO YOU...
Love it!
Compilation Guy he's already done holding onto you
Thanks for watching, fam! What song should I do next week?
The Pop Song Professor For Tøp tuesday, 'Johnny Boy'
The Pop Song Professor Holding On To You hahahhah
Please do "Before You Start Your day" (I don't think you've done that yet..??)
Trapdoor!
The Pop Song Professor Clear or Ruby
Maybe before you start your day
Please, do "clear". It's so underrated. It would be also cool if you made a vid about "be concerned"
I LOVE ISLE OF FLIGHTLESS BIRDS!!!!!!!!
That thumbnail is gold😂😂
I read both of those books!
3:47 is when he gets in to it
really appreciate your channel dude thank you so much for what you do
the texting is very good... and, I really really love tonin pilots! they are my favorite band! (tonin!? really?!)
Holding onto you
oh and the run and go!
I agree with everything you said and you actually broughtup somethings I didn't notice in the song yet. I've actually thought as the us being flightless birds as a different interpretation. I think your interpretation may be better bt I've always thought about it in the way that whenever you ask someone the first thing they think when they think bird they will probably say flying. So, even though there are flightless birds I think he may sort of be saying that they are different from the norm and they are lacking this fundamental thing people think is just natural for them to have. So, I was just thinking it may just be a way of saying we're different but I like your explanation better.
Interesting explanation. Thanks for sharing!
Could you do Before you start your day?
Turkeys, Chickens, Peacocks, Flamingos, Dodos, Emus, and Moas to name a few
Holding on to You! I've been begging since forever!
It looks like it's winning!
The Pop Song Professor GOOD! Im very excited!
I saw in the livestream video that you thought Holding on to You was about holding on to God.
As religious as Josh and Tyler are, I don't think all/most of their songs have a religious theme.
Now that I think about it, I think Holding on to You is about holding on to a friend! Next week I'll get deeper into the lyrics depending whether or not you'll agree but I think I got something of my own ;3
I'll keep it in mind as I explain and try to keep an open mind.
The Pop Song Professor I'm excited to see PSP
Pandii it's about wanting to stay with god
I love you videos! Would you please do The Pantaloon?
That would be a really good one to do, and it's consistently one of the higher voted ones, so hopefully soon!
Could you do Air Catcher please? I feel like that song has a really good and deep meaning, but I just can't get it!
I was listing to this song when I got the notification 😂😂😂😂
Awesome!
When i think of an isle of flightless birds, i think of pigeons (or any bird,really) perched on the wires of utility poles. They have the potential to fly, but are flightless instead.
Lol nice. I like that image.
I always thought he was talking about dodos, because they evolved on an island without predators so they lost their ability to fly and feel danger.
You are Fantastic
Thanks!
glowing eyes
An emu is a flightless bird. Similar to an ostrich. I want you to explain Glowing Eyes. Thanks!
Thank you!
PLEASE DO FAKE YOU OUT!!!
Can you please do Glowing Eyes? That would be pretty cool! (:
The pantaloon!!!!!!
holding onto you would be great as I kinda know the meaning (how Tyler is going to keep his faith in god) but however I don't know the deeper meaning, only the general concept
can you do placebo please
do lane boy
Can you do trapdoor or kitchen sink?
Whisper
Please so FOREST!
do*
...emus? do they count?
Emus most certainly can count.
Great thumb nail
Finally! Someone noticed!
How could i not?
The Pop Song Professor there all awesome and I notice them
okay how about Glowing Eyes?
Charles Castillo yes
Good one!
yes, glowing eyes, or forest
Charles Castillo that's good to
Yes glowing eyes or forest please or lovely
Ruby . Please do ruby
Andrew Boman he wrote it for a girl with down' syndrome in his church. nothing more to it as far as i know
Yes, ruby is about a girl with down syndrome. it also associates strongly with god, thus the mention of angels. And when Tyler says he was waiting the week to see Ruby, he can't wait to see her at church on Sunday. also, the "tell our dad i'm sorry" is referring to Tyler telling ruby to tell god that Tyler is sorry when she goes to Heaven. because as a repetition to other songs, Tyler is struggling with his faith.
also if this doesn't make sense, sorry i'm not the best writer. :)
How do you guys know. is there a video or something? this makes me so happy I know someone who is very important to me that has downs syndrome.
A.Goner.Staying.Alive Yes there's a UA-cam video where he says that the first time he performs that song.
Darn it I'm supposed to be in class!
BTW do trapdoor!
Skip class. This video's cooler. lol jk
The Pop Song Professor Haha thanks for responding!
The Pop Song Professor lol
true true
Addict with a pen :)
Pernille Nistrup I tried that
Do kitchen sink plz
Sean Tan kitchen sink is about finding a way to stay alive because no one knows your demons so you have to create your own reason to live. If you create something you have to stay alive to tell people why you made it otherwise it'll just disappear.
Nick Heilman That's just what the one line is about in the song, there's a lot more to cover with that song
Nick Heilman to add on, the whole theme of the kitchen sink is a story Tyler has that involves him and a kitchen sink that no one else knows. He says this gives him purpose because when he questions what he's worth or why he should continue he thinks about how no one else knows this story and therefore, creating the beginning of a purpose for him.
Yes please do it!
You don't know what that means
the pantaloon
Pøwer Tø The Løcal Dreamer I tried
fall away!!!!!
twentyone joshstyler it's about Tyler falling from his faith and stopping believing in god
You were right the first time. It is from self-titled
Dang it. lol
@@ThePopSongProfessor still an amazing analysis. If you see this Professor 😂 did you do the final code and if so what colour was your final text?
can you do glowing eyes pls?¿
Eliza Pancakes nice username and profile pic
Eliza Pancakes It looks like Glowing Eyes is gonna be after Holding on to You
Eliza Pancakes yes please do glowing eyes! It's the only song I don't understand from TOP
YES!!! I havent even started the video but im so excited this is my fave song! THANKS!!!
Now that i've watched it, I agree on your interpretation of the song and you also pointed out some things that I hadn't realized. Overall a great analysis of the song. My fave part is "Your soul knows good and evil, your soul knows both side, and it's time you pick your battle and I promise you this is mine". Not only lyrically, but musically this song is a master piece
Thanks for your thoughts and the suggestion!
Please do Clear!
Noor Muhtaseb omg yes!!
yesyesyes
Noor Muhtaseb omg yesss!!!!
Can you do it for Glowing Eyes? Love your channel🙂
Also dodos are flightless I think
HE NEEDS TO DO GLOWING EYES
Evie Drwhofan
Dodos are extinct
If you decide to live by what you think's wrong and what's right
Believe me, you'll begin to wish you were sleeping
Your weeping will creep in your head and you'll cry
But if we wake up every morning and decide what we believe
We can take apart our very heart and the light will set us free
I think you're interpretation of the song as a whole is great! regarding the lyrics above however, your interpretation kind of merges the first half of the lines and the second half.
What Tyler is saying is that we can't just choose what we think is right and wrong. There's too much freedom in that and it's too unstable. We will undoubtedly break down from the inconsistencies. INSTEAD he urges us to choose NOT what is right and wrong, but instead what we believe. Likely urging us to find resolution in our purpose in the world so that we are not left clueless and suicidal because of it.
Obviously, I'm not 100% sure because I'm not Tyler, but based off of my knowledge as an aspiring youth pastor, this is what makes sense based off of the structure of the lines, as well as the background of the singer.
P.S. It may seem like I'm picking at hairs, but I really do think the difference here is very important. It changes the conclusion entirely.
6:49 I love lettuce birds (turn on the auto generated captions)
It's interesting because I just made a connection between this song and ode to sleep. So he says in this one, we can take apart our very heart. And earlier he's talking about the ground taunting his wings and sinking.
In ode to sleep he says, by the time I find it handy to rip my heart apart and start planning my crash landing.
So it's kind of a repeating theme of crashing back to earth but also using self examination to break free of that.
Going off the rest of that verse in ode to sleep in relation to IOFB kind of gives me more meaning to it.
In that verse he also asks, "is this living free?" Which is paralleled in IOFB where he says the light will set us free after taking apart our hearts. So what I'm getting from ode to sleep is a sense of regret? Confusion? Like he finally starts to do the thing that he talked about in IOFB and now he's not sure if he can handle the fight that comes with it?
In fact the whole stanza in IOFB explains the plot of the first stanza in OTS.
I'd love your thoughts. If this makes any sense at all lol.
The two stanzas:
IOFB:
If you decide to live by, what you think's wrong and what's right
Believe me you'll begin to wish you were sleeping
Your weeping will creep in your head and you'll cry
But if we wake up every morning and decide what we believe
We can take apart our very heart and the light will set us free
OTS:
I wake up fine and dandy but then by the time I find it handy
To rip my heart apart and start
Planning my crash landing
I go up, up, up, up, up to the ceiling
Then I feel my soul start leaving
Like an old man's hair receding
I'm pleading, please, oh please
On my knees repeatedly asking
Why it's got to be like this
Is this living free?
I don't wanna be the one be the one to have the sun's blood on my hands
I'll tell the moon
Take this weapon, forged in darkness
Some see a pen, I see harpoon
Edit: in fact the more I look at the lyrics to the two songs the more parallels I can see. I wonder if this just falls into Tyler's pattern of referencing himself and his own past songs/ideas or if it was done with purpose. I feel like he rarely does things without purpose.
Okay anyways comment over haha.
Thanks for this video! I never got too into this song back when I was first discovering self titled because there were just SO MANY good songs on the album that I couldn't process all of them. But it's one I've really been getting into as of late. So it's cool to see and think about.
This is really interesting. Thanks for mentioning. I definitely see the parallels you're talking about. I wonder if it's self-referencing or if maybe it's more him just coming back themes and coming back to the ways he thinks of those themes. Cars, trees, and things like that seem to be metaphors for him for certain things, and so he keeps coming back to them all the time.
Really good stuff, Abbie!
do holding onto you thats my second favorite song and i can't believe you haven't done it yet
Can you do forest, glowing eyes, or holding on to you
Excuse me Can you plz leave forest is about purgatory, holding onto you is about trying to stay with god, glowing eyes is about how he is depressed and how getting away from depression is hard
Please do Air catcher and message man!! Those r the only two songs I am needing help on understanding then I'll have my tøp playlist complete.
Omgosh 51 in message man he is telling peppar like the professor not to "mess with the message, man" because he Thinks people should think for themselves
People*
ackmania thank you.
Omgosh 51 message man is about how he doesn't want people to theorize the wrong things about his songs
Omgosh 51
Air catcher is about fear of being in a relationship - it is represented by the lack of a parachute while falling
Do TB Saga
josiah chestnut YES! That one is so deep! I still haven't figured it out...
Haha did not think this song was going to go in the comment
I know this is technically not twenty one pilots, but could you do Drown by Tyler Joseph?
Maybe we need to start Tyler Joseph Tuesdays...
The Pop Song Professor yessss
Trapdoor pleeeeaaaassssseeeeee
Holding onto you! :)
The pantaloon please
DubbingForDummies I tried
DubbingForDummies ur profile pic looks constapated😂😂😂😂😂
Isle of flightless birds is my favorite song of all time, thank you so much for explaining it! There were a couple of things you pointed out that I never caught :)
Please do "whisper" even though it's from no phun intended, I am confused on what's it is about :)
Could you do glowing eyes or air Catcher?
does anyone know why the ending of the song is like a minute long or something? lmaoo
Holding On To You please
I immediately thought of Antarctica, isle of flightless bird, literally an island only inhabited by penguins, flightless birds.
I have a motion that he actually talks about the current culture where more people are being suicidal, not believing in God, we are valuing comfortability, and repeating the same mistakes over and over again... And how the world seems broken and stuff...
I don't know if you did this one yet, but Air Catcher would be really cool. it might be easy for others to understand, but its kind of confusing to me XD
holding on to you, forest and glowing eyes :)
chelsea sherburne I legit just commented all three of those😂 those are my favs
Excuse me Can you plz leave same!!
chelsea sherburne holding onto you is about staying with god, forest is about purgatory and glowing eyes is about not wanting to leave depression
7:07
"They stopped thinking of the sky"
No one looks up anymore
cuz you might get a raindrop in your eye
A chicken is a flightless bird
You should do Addict with a Pen!
Larissa I tried
Omg I have that booookk!!! 😱 it’s a really interesting book
Chicken, emu, turkey
my favourite flightless bird is the inaccessible island rail
its smol and lives on a island that is really hard to get to
This isn't a very well known artist, but I think you would like the artist NF. He's a rapper, a christian but his music is technically not (like tøp!), and he puts his emotions and thoughts in his music. He calls his music a therapy session. Please check his music out?
I've thought about it, and it may happen. But he's not quite mainstream enough for the "pop" song professor, but we'll see!
I always thought of the extinct dodo bird
It has got to be talking about the dodo
Emus and cassowary are Aussie flightless birds
Clifford has gotten much better at talking to the camera
Verse 3? That's not a thing. It's the bridge not the third verse.
Please do Air Catcher or Kitchen Sink
Holding On To You
Truce
Really want to see those two
Can you do March To The Sea?! Please..??
Awe 🙂❤️He said he cared about us.
LoOk At AlL ThOSe cHickENs
Frank Peretti, Ted Dekker.... is... is that The End of the Spear... HUH. I wasn't expecting you to have those books.
Okay I know I’m a year late but I just recently read The Delusion by Laura Gallier that pretty much is exactly what this song is about, how you explained it a “cosmic invisible war”. SUCH a good book and such a good song!
I'm a emu boi m8
the poor poor stoopid chickens..
You should do holding onto you
Nick Heilman it's about wanting to stay with god
I like leave the city
Please do i
Glowing eyes!!!!!!!!! PLEASE
Tëššå it's about wanting to stay depressed because leaving depression is hard
Air catcher pleeeaaassseeee
could you do holding onto you?
the unicorn lps it's about wanting to stay with god
Glowing eyes please
Hey, just browsing through your archives, this is one of my fav songs from twenty one pilots so I thought I had a look. I read this present darkness a while ago, and I found this concept really interesting.
Trapdoor or Forest🌲
Addict with a pen
taxi cab please
The pantaloon