Andrew Bird & Phoebe Bridgers Reimagine Emily Dickinson Poem On New Single [Video]

For those who have ever asked, “What if an Emily Dickinson poem about a funeral was sadder?” Andrew Bird and Phoebe Bridgers have the answer with their new duet, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain”. The standalone single takes its title and lyrics from the poet’s 1861 work of the same name.

“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” is haunting yet comforting. Eerie strings open the track but eventually give way to a serene meeting of acoustic guitar and Bird’s point-blank singing style. The singer-songwriter who released Inside Problems earlier this year trades verses with Bridgers as Dickinson’s vivid account of internal struggle slips further and further down into the Earth. Background instrumentation brings some of the words to life, transporting the listener to a solemn “Service, like a Drum” where mourners creak across the speaker’s grave in “Boots of Lead.”

“I came across this Emily Dickinson poem and found it to be the most vivid description of an inner world I’ve ever encountered,” Bird said. “It became an inspiration for the songs on Inside Problems. Who better to sing it with than Phoebe Bridgers? I sent her a demo and so, here we are. Thanks to Ms. Dickinson’s publisher at Harvard University Press for allowing us to use this poem. As I understand, her poems weren’t published as she intended them until the 1950s – that is, without the heavy hand of her male editors.”

Andrew Bird – “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” (Emily Dickinson) (ft. Phoebe Bridgers)

In addition to their talents as singer-songwriters, Andrew Bird and Phoebe Bridgers have both recently bolstered their resumes with acting roles. Bird appeared as Thurmon Smutny in season four of FX‘s Fargo anthology series, while Bridgers will play the part of Sally in Danny Elfman‘s upcoming live-to-film orchestral production of The Nightmare Before Christmas on December 9th and 10th at London’s OVO Arena Wembley.

“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” by Emily Dickinson

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,

And Mourners to and fro

Kept treading – treading – till it seemed

That Sense was breaking through –

And when they all were seated,

A Service, like a Drum –

Kept beating – beating – till I thought

My mind was going numb –

And then I heard them lift a Box

And creak across my Soul

With those same Boots of Lead, again,

Then Space – began to toll,

As all the Heavens were a Bell,

And Being, but an Ear,

And I, and Silence, some strange Race,

Wrecked, solitary, here –

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,

And I dropped down, and down –

And hit a World, at every plunge,

And Finished knowing – then –

View Lyrics