Andrew Bird & Phoebe Bridgers Reenvision Emily Dickinson Poem

Andrew Bird teamed up with Phoebe Bridgers for a musical adaptation of the Emily Dickinson poem, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain.” The song follows Bird’s 2022 album, Inside Problems, which arrived on June 3.

Dickinson wrote “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” in 1861 and the piece largely inspired Andrew’s Inside Problems 160 years later. Both the poem and the new album examine the inner spaces of the mind. The song version “further explores the mind-numbing thoughts, questions and obsessions that Bird brought to life across his new album, Inside Problems, soundtracking the inner demons that run amok when things get quiet,” as per a press release.

Bird also detailed the new song:

“I came across this Emily Dickinson poem and found it to be the most vivid description of an inner world I’ve ever encountered. 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.”

Listen to Bird and Bridgers on “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” below: