# Origin of phrase "Bird on a Wire" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 18, 2004, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-bird-on-a-wire/260372 "2004-08-18T09:43:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Beachcomber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@Beachcomber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beachcomber)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-bird-on-a-wire/260372/1 "2004-08-18T09:43:09Z")
What is the meaning of the phrase “Bird on a wire” and where and how did it originate? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-bird-on-a-wire/260372/2 "2004-08-18T10:25:35Z")
Off the top of my head I think it is something to do with the practice of putting ‘lime’ on wire fences or creating wire perches in order to trap songbirds - their feet stuck to the lime. Hence the image of something fragile struggling in vain to escape. I think the technique originated in the middle ages but I’m not sure how long it continued - it might be worth doing a search to see if good old Will Shakespeare used the phrase at all, that’s where a lot of our metaphors come from. (Not sure if the birdies were captured to provide (shortlived) domestic entertainment or for food.) ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-bird-on-a-wire/260372/3 "2004-08-18T11:32:02Z")
[Answer](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=199752) ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-bird-on-a-wire/260372/4 "2004-08-18T11:58:07Z")
For future reference, **Beachcomber** you might try putting a more descriptive title on your threads. People are more likely to read and respond if they know what the thread is about. And welcome to the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-bird-on-a-wire/260372/5 "2004-08-18T13:53:36Z")
i’ve changed the title of the thread. **DrMatrix** - GQ Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2004, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-bird-on-a-wire/260372/6 "2004-08-18T13:56:56Z")
> [@](#): > > **Leonard Cohen** > At a certain point, I bumped into Suzanne Vaillancourt [?], who was the wife of a friend of mine, they were a stunning couple around Montreal at the time, physically stunning, both of them, a handsome man and woman, everyone was in love with Suzanne Vaillancourt, and every woman was in love with Armand Vaillancourt. But there was no… well, there was thought, but there was no possibility, one would not allow oneself to think of toiling at the seduction of Armand Vaillancourt’s wife. First of all he was a friend, and second of all as a couple they were inviolate, you just didn’t intrude into that kind of shared glory that they manifested. I bumped into her one evening, and she invited me down to her place near the river. She had a loft, at a time when lofts were… the word wasn’t used. She had a space in a warehouse down there, and she invited me down, and I went with her, and she served me Constant Comment tea, which has little bits of oranges in it. And the boats were going by, and I touched her perfect body with my mind, because there was no other opportunity. There was no other way that you could touch her perfect body under those circumstances. So she provided the name in the song. **Bird on the Wire** [here](http://www.serve.com/cpage/LCohen/BBCshow.html) [Lyrics and more discussion here](http://pub122.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm7.showMessage?topicID=114.topic). > [@](#): > > Like a bird on the wire > Like a drunk in a midnight choir > I have tried in my way to be free > (1969) xx ---
**Author:** ![Beachcomber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@Beachcomber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beachcomber)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-bird-on-a-wire/260372/7 "2004-08-19T07:50:22Z")
Humble apologies for being so vague with my post. It was my first time and have not quite got the hang of it. Thanks for gentle rebukes will take note and try to do better. Thanks also for replies to the question. I have been mystified for long time, since hearing the Rita Coolidge song, but could not get satisfactory answers. Have done extensive Internet search but only came up with the movie and song lyrics, no meanings or origin. SDMB has provided some answers but still nobody seems to know for sure. Still 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Bewildebeest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bewildebeest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bewildebeest)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-bird-on-a-wire/260372/8 "2004-08-19T13:21:45Z")
I always heard that the ‘wire’ was a telephone line, not a tether. “Like bird on a wire” meant someone who knew what was going on as if they overheard your phone conversations. ---
**Author:** ![Ponster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponster/32/17081_2.png) [@Ponster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponster)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2004, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-bird-on-a-wire/260372/9 "2004-08-19T14:42:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Like a bird on the wire > Like a drunk in a midnight choir > I have tried in my way to be free Well I don’t know much about his lyrics so maybe I can’t help you out but **I have tried in my way to be free** suggets he is looking and working towards freedom. So either (a) the bird and the drunk are already free and he wants to be like them or (b) that they are both looking for freedom just like he is. So for (a) ‘bird on the wire’ is just a bird on a telephone line. A bird who is free to do as it pleases. It can take off and land as it feels. Or (b) ‘bird on the wire’ is as **CatJones** suggested, a trapped bird. People use birdlime made from holly to stick birds feet to whatever they happen to land on.