lifeblood: songs: backgrounds: birthday song

2011-10-03: music review: indigo girls - beauty queen sister, blogcritics:

also among the softer songs on the album is "birthday song." and it's a sentiment i often have. "i couldn't think of a thing to write/ on your birthday card," they sing. "considered the poets / they didn't know what lay quiet inside my heart / thought of atlanta. . .all of the places we'd been." but nothing comes to mind to write down. instead, they suggest, i hope my actions speak louder than words, and we can share those together. what a wonderful sentiment-words sometimes seem so hollow and given the chance we should all be happy to share time with one another.

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2011-10-22: indigo girls: beauty queen sister, billboard:

in "feed and water the horses," a pretty folk-pop tune from the indigo girls' new album, beauty queen sister, emily saliers indulges in some nostalgia for the good old days--back before "all of the news [came] via link." ("i miss the smell of ink on paper," she adds with characteristic detail.) yet the 13-track beauty queen sister is actually the veteran georgia duo's least conservative effort in years. if anything, it demonstrates how committed the indigo girls remain to looking forward. as always, saliers and amy ray's harmony vocals constitute the heart of the music, never more handsomely than in the stripped-down "birthday song." but around those voices the indigos and their sidemen (including bassist viktor krauss and fiddler luke bulla) keep things moving, smoothing out their attack to a vintage-soul sheen in "we get to feel it all" and folding some tart flute-and-whistle action into the celtic-accented "damo." at one point they even offer up a sprightly zydeco jam ("making promises") that uncannily recalls the theme song from "laverne & shirley."

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2011-10-22: indigo girls rock a little harder, broaden scope, the allentown morning call:

violin, meanwhile, is also featured more on "beauty queen sister," as the playing of luke bulla (borrowed from lyle lovett's band) adds layers of melody to songs like "yoke," "share the moon" and "birthday song."

"he had such an impact on us musically that we were like, god, we want to play with him again," ray says. "he's a great player so he became a centerpiece of the record, really."

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2011-11-02: indigo girls' amy ray on tattoos and coming out, the windy city times:

wct: is the new track "birthday song" a good one for a live audience?

ar: yeah, it is actually. all of the new songs work live pretty well, which is great. we are not touring with a drummer right now. we are touring with a keyboard player, who plays the accordion as well and a violinist. it is pretty representative of the record, in a sort of slightly different broken down kind of way. it is pretty fun and all kind of works. at this point we are still getting our sea legs with the new material so it is hard to tell.

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2011-11-09: expect well-loved standards at indigo girls show, the wisconsin state journal:

"beauty queen sister," their 14th studio album, features flourishing melodies and stories and emotional reflections, with elements of americana, punk, rock and roll and pop.

"war rugs" explores the 2011 egyptian revolution and its overarching technological influences, while "birthday song" makes a small, personal confession, "i have nothing to give except but to live, / like the person you know me to be."

ray and saliers continue to tell each story with a level of raw emotion not often found in contemporary singers today, who are often lost in a sea of auto-tune and invented musical vocabulary by "american idol" judges.

"we feel what we write about, even if it's a pop song," saliers said. "you just interpret your songs as you feel them."