I want a shoe horn - the kind with teeth
You know there’s no such thing.
I just visited This Might Be a Wiki — “The TMBG’s Knowledge Base”. It references interview comments the band has made about the song and offers speculation about lyric references.
Blue Canary was a pop song performed by Dinah Shore around 1953. Youtube also offers an Italian version by the composer, Vincent Fiorino, which is exactly the kind of novelty song that the Giant Johns would be attracted to.
The wiki page also mentions the connection to the phrase “bluebird of happiness”, which appears in the song as “bluebird of friendliness.”
There’s no mention of blue canary night lites predating the song. My guess is that they did not, but that the concept did draw from earlier cultural touchstones, rather than being built straight from quantum foam.
Youtube also offers an Italian version by the composer, Vincent Fiorino, which is exactly the kind of novelty song that the Giant Johns would be attracted to.
Small correction: the Italian version in the link above is not performed by the composer. It is probably from the 1950s and may be Melisa Fiordoliso and Carlo Buti. Apparently that version of Blue Canary (rather than the Dinah Shore version) has had enduring popularity in Russia.
Ok, there’s a movie called the “The Bluebird” with Shirley Temple and others. 1940s.
The plot is they’re searching for the Bluebird of Happiness. That magically glows.
I didn’t see the movie. But I read the info.
Could this be where it all started?
Cite for “most”?
Every nightlight I ever encountered in the 80s had a small incandescent bulb, the same C7 bulbs they used on the mid-sized outdoor Christmas light strings, so they could be red, orange, green, blue, pink, white or yellow.
For more information, please re-read.
The complete film is available on Youtube, and I scrubbed through it without seeing any reference to the bluebird glowing. The film had many 1930s style special effects, but no glowing birds.
What initially caught my attention about the movie was its move from B&W to color, after 10 minutes or so — which made me think Wizard of Oz copy…? And yeah, it was a rival studio’s response to Wizard, and the resemblance is strong. However, it turned out to be the only unsuccessful Shirley Temple feature — probably due to her playing a spoiled brat. (Her adventures in a mystical world eventually open her eyes and she reforms.)
I don’t know how old this is, but it’s not contemporary:
https://www.replacements.com/p/silvestri-demdaco-giftware-q--bluebird-nightlight/xsvgif/111908551
They’re the replacements.
The picture shows “Guang Li” above the switch. Guangli is a professional night light manufacturer since 1995. Birdhouse in your Soul was released in 1990.
And they’re playing in a rock’n’roll band.
And, that night light is a bluebird rather than a blue canary. It has an orange breast and a longish pointed beak. A canary’s beak is short and thick for seed crushing.
(Still a worthwhile data point though, Beowulff.)
I wouldn’t assume that the author of the song is an ornithologist, though. Any bird could be described as a “canary”, to someone who’s not familiar with them. Especially given that “blue canaries” don’t actually exist.
Especially when the lyrics go:
"Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch
Who watches over you”
Then, later:
“Bluebird of friendliness
Like guardian angels its always near”
I did wonder about that - the lyrics do seem to say ‘Bluebird’ as opposed to just ‘blue bird’
One thing that made me originally wonder if this was talking about an identifiable product is the line ‘My name is blue canary one note spelled l-I-t-e’ - I thought perhaps there would be some mid century product with the branding ‘Blue Canary Nite-Lite’ or some such
The other thought that occurred to me is that, although the word ‘canary’ appears 6 times in the song (albeit 5 of them are the chorus), perhaps the item being described was just a blue bulb of this sort (which I guess could be considered sort-of bird shaped), enclosed in a protective cage of some sort. It is not uncommon for the domed style of bird cages to be called ‘canary cage’ even if the birds inside are not canaries, so (tenuous reasoning I know) maybe the thing being described is only a blue lamp inside a cage that requires a child’s imagination to think of as a canary, or bluebird