Dead Bird Lyrics
Dead Bird
Dead Bird, dead Turkey BirdIncapable of flying
Oh, the sound you made when dying
Was the saddest?noise?I've heard
Noble bird?you gave your life
We thank you?for your sacrifice
Gonna eat your face with secret spice
Dead Bird
Song Overview
Review and Highlights
Quick summary
- Holiday micro-track spun from the show’s breakout power ballad “Dead Mom,” reworded for Thanksgiving and sung by Alex Brightman.
- Issued as a stand-alone digital video during the 2019 holiday week; later bundled in fan-facing “Apocrypha” lists of cut or alt material.
- Tone: faux-hymn to the turkey with Beetlejuice’s crooked grin. Length under a minute - built for shares, not story.
- Drops in the same week the company hit seasonal promo peaks, keeping the title buzzing between stage and feeds.
Creation History
The team recorded a deliberately throwaway “what if” verse - a comic reskin of “Dead Mom” - and posted it as a Thanksgiving greeting. Broadway outlets flagged it as a fresh clip from the company’s studio, a winking nod to how the show thrives on remixable bits. It is not part of the official cast album; think seasonal postcard, not canon.
Highlights
Wordplay sticks the landing: sacred-solemn setup, then a spice-rack punchline. Brightman leans into mock-reverence while the lyric thanks the “noble bird” and undercuts the sentiment with culinary menace. Because of course he does.
Song Meaning and Annotations
Plot
No plot beat here - just a holiday bumper. In the show’s universe, Beetlejuice repurposes grief music for a feast-day ode, which tracks with his habit of breaking tone for a laugh and then sprinting off.
Song Meaning
Parody with seasoning. The text mirrors the cadence of “Dead Mom,” then replaces catharsis with carnivore gratitude. It is a quick character sketch: irreverent, theatrical, and just a little wrong on purpose.
Annotations
“Dead Bird, dead Turkey Bird”
Instant signal that this is a riff, not a sequel - the scansion echoes “Dead Mom,” but the subject is dinner.
“We thank you for your sacrifice”
Mock-ceremonial phrasing that lampoons the tendency to sanctify the meal while still eating it.
“Gonna eat your face with secret spice”
Beetlejuice humor 101: escalate the image, keep the rhyme, let the audience laugh and wince at once.
Style, context, instrumentation
Simple studio production - vocal-forward, keyboard pads, a light wink toward the original ballad’s harmony. The brevity is the joke.
Key Facts
- Artist: Original Broadway Cast of Beetlejuice, Alex Brightman
- Composer & Lyric Seed: Eddie Perfect’s “Dead Mom” structure, text retooled for the holiday gag
- Release Window: Thanksgiving week 2019 as an official video post
- Genre: Musical theatre parody
- Instruments: Studio keys, light rhythm bed, lead vocal
- Label: Issued via the production’s official channels rather than the cast-album label slate
- Mood: Arch, cheeky
- Length: ~0:30–0:40
- Status: Holiday promo clip; not on the OBCR
- Poetic meter: Refrain-shaped couplets that mirror “Dead Mom” cadences
Canonical Entities & Relations
| Eddie Perfect - wrote - source song “Dead Mom” |
| Alex Brightman - performed - lead vocal for the holiday riff |
| Beetlejuice production - released - official studio video during Thanksgiving week |
| Ghostlight Records & partners - released - main cast album in 2019 (separate from this promo) |
Questions and Answers
- Is “Dead Bird” part of the show’s plot?
- No. It is a stand-alone holiday gag that borrows the melody shape of “Dead Mom.”
- Where did it first appear?
- On the production’s official video channels during Thanksgiving week in 2019, with Broadway press picking it up the same day.
- Did it make the cast album?
- No. It sits outside the canonical track list and lives as a short-form clip.
- Are there other versions?
- Fans have made animatics and edits, but there is one official holiday clip.
- Why do a holiday spoof at all?
- Smart audience play: it keeps the show’s voice in feeds with something light and shareable while the company hits seasonal promo stages.
- Any connection to the parade performance that year?
- Only thematically. The parade slot featured primary numbers; the turkey tune was a separate piece of content.
Awards and Chart Positions
No awards or chart listings are tied to this micro-release. It functioned as a seasonal promo post rather than a retail single.
Additional Info
Press blurbs framed it as a cheeky “from the team that brought you ‘Dead Mom’” drop, with Alex Brightman front and center in the studio clip. According to BroadwayWorld’s item, the video landed November 25, 2019, just ahead of the holiday. The show’s official playlists later grouped it with other short-form pieces. Ghostlight’s cast album campaign, running in parallel that fall, kept the core soundtrack in focus - separate lanes, same audience.
Sources: Beetlejuice The Musical official YouTube, BroadwayWorld, Ghostlight Records store pages, CastAlbums.org, production social media.