Hey, Little Songbird Lyrics
Hades, EurydiceHey, Little Songbird
[HADES]Hey, little songbird, give me a song
I’m a busy man and I can’t stay long
I got clients to call, I got orders to fill
I got walls to build, I got riots to quell
And they’re giving me hell back in Hades
Hey, little songbird, cat got your tongue?
Always a pity for one so pretty and young
When poverty comes to clip your wings
And knock the wind right out of your lungs
Hey, nobody sings on empty
[EURYDICE]
Strange is the call of this strange man
I want to fly down and feed at his hand
I want a nice soft place to land
I want to lie down forever
[HADES]
Hey, little songbird, you got something fine
You’d shine like a diamond down in the mine
And the choice is yours if you’re willing to choose
Seeing as you’ve got nothing to lose
And I could use a canary
[EURYDICE]
Suddenly nothing is as it was
Where are you now, Orpheus?
Wasn’t it gonna be the two of us
Weren’t we birds of a feather?
[HADES]
Hey, little songbird, let me guess:
He’s some kind of poet and he’s penniless?
Give him your hand, he’ll give you his hand-to-mouth
He’ll write you a poem when the power’s out
Hey, why not fly south for the winter?
Hey, little songbird, look all around you
See how the vipers and vultures surround you
They’ll take you down, they’ll pick you clean
If you stick around such a desperate scene
See, people get mean when the chips are down...
Song Overview
“Hey, Little Songbird” is the seduction scene in Hadestown where Hades spots Eurydice’s hunger and offers a deal dressed up as mercy. On the Hadestown (Original Broadway Cast Recording), it’s Track 13 and arrived as part of the early rollouts on June 7, 2019, before the album completed on July 26.
You can hear the official audio on the label’s Topic upload - the one stamped “Provided to YouTube by Sing It Again Records.”
Review & Highlights
Creation History
Anaïs Mitchell first wrote this number in the show’s folk-opera days, refined it in the 2016 NYTW run, and then into Broadway’s 2019 studio cast album, released in curated “drops” across June and July. The second-week drop featured this track among highlights on June 7, with subsequent character drops through July 26 when the full 40-track album landed.
Why it works: The music slinks. Hades’s bass sits low and confident; Eurydice’s replies float wary and tired. The band nudges a jazz-blues shuffle into a showtune frame, and the groove makes the sales pitch go down easy. The scene reads like a job interview in a storm cellar - warm voice, cold offer. The word “lyrics” matters here because every line is bait, sharpened for survival.
Storyline in brief: Hades tempts a starving Eurydice with steadiness and light. She wants sleep and a roof; he wants a canary. The Fates hover. By the final bars, her world has tilted, and the next number, “When the Chips Are Down,” is practically decided.
Verse 1
Verse 1. Hades opens like a foreman with a smile - efficient, clipped, already late for another meeting. The power imbalance is set with the first low note.
Chorus
Chorus. He flatters, she bargains with herself, and we hear the floor creak - comfort versus freedom.
Exchange/Bridge
Exchange/Bridge. The line about “a poem when the power is out” stings. It’s both a joke and a thesis: romance doesn’t feed you.
Final Build
Final Build. The sales pitch widens to fear: “vipers and vultures.” The room closes in. Choice narrows to a tunnel.
Song Meaning and Annotations
The scene is appetite meeting power. Hades reads Eurydice’s need and speaks fluent scarcity.
“It’s fitting the lowest voice in the score belongs to the owner of the Underworld.”That’s the hook - authority as timbre. I hear the bass not as villainy, but as gravity dragging choices down.
Mitchell threads future songs into one handshake.
“A reference to two songs Hades sings later in the musical: ‘Why We Build The Wall’ and ‘His Kiss, The Riot’.”The wall isn’t just masonry later - it’s already here, an invisible one built with rhetoric.
The show’s politics stay close to the skin.
“This lyric shows that there is conflict in Hadestown and Hades himself knows it, but instead of addressing the grievances, his first initiative is to silence them.”It’s labor unrest turned into brand management - and Eurydice gets pitched as the new hire.
Mitchell plays with double meanings.
“A play on words. In ancient Greek literature, the name Hades is used... as a synonym for the Underworld/hell.”He’s both the man and the place - say yes to him, you say yes to everything down there.
Eurydice’s POV is painfully practical.
“The only other time Eurydice has been approached was by Orpheus... Hades is coming with reason and rhetoric.”Orpheus wooed; Hades negotiates. Different music, different math.
It’s not vanity; it’s survival.
“‘Eurydice was a hungry young girl.’ Her main motivation... is to fill her belly and survive.”In that light, flattery is a meal substitute.
Comfort keeps shimmering just out of reach.
“Eurydice is a physical being... She just wants sleep, food, and as expressed here, comfort.”The song asks the oldest question: what would you trade to stop hurting?
Even the romance lines carry exhaustion.
“She doesn’t know if she can keep living... she wants peace.”The seduction works because she’s already halfway there.
Hades sells usefulness as love.
“This is a reference to the expression ‘canary in a coal mine’... meant to protect others through its death.”That one metaphor reframes the whole duet. He doesn’t want a partner; he wants an early-warning system.
The Orpheus contrast stays sharp.
“Hades knows just how to pull Eurydice’s strings... she wants food and sleep, and Orpheus... can’t provide that.”If art can’t put dinner on the table, a furnace will.
Language tricks do heavy lifting.
“‘Give him your hand, he’ll give you his hand-to-mouth’... a play on words.”Suddenly a marriage proposal sounds like a budget spreadsheet.
And because this is Hadestown, the exit sign is a compass.
“‘Why not fly south for the winter?’... in this context, ‘south’ is down to Hadestown.”He turns migration into descent - clever, chilling.
Staging wise, the Fates aren’t just a Greek chorus - they’re PR.
“During the musical, the Fates surround Eurydice to reiterate Hades’ argument as she struggles to make a decision.”The pressure isn’t subtle; it isn’t meant to be.
Production, rhythm, instrumentation
The OBC cut rides a steady backbeat with folk-jazz color: trombone growl, guitar bite, piano/accordion glue, and strings that flicker in and out. It’s an elegant trap, musically speaking.
Metaphors and symbols
Animals everywhere - songbird, vipers, vultures - turn the human stakes into a food chain. The coal-mine canary flips from compliment to warning label in half a bar. Hunger is the real antagonist here.
Key Facts
- Artist: Patrick Page & Eva Noblezada (Original Broadway Cast)
- Writer: Anaïs Mitchell
- Producers: Todd Sickafoose, David Lai, Anaïs Mitchell
- Release Date: June 7, 2019 (highlight drop)
- Album: Hadestown (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
- Label: Sing It Again Records
- Track #: 13
- Length: ~3:19 on official audio
- Genre/Style: Showtune with folk, jazz-blues inflection
- Vocal casting: Hades - bass; Eurydice - mezzo-soprano/alto
- © Copyrights: 2019 Hadestown Broadway / Sing It Again, LLC
Questions and Answers
- Was “Hey, Little Songbird” part of the first music released from the Broadway album?
- Yes. Playbill previewed it June 5, 2019 ahead of the June 7 highlights drop.
- Is there an official stream or upload tied to the label?
- Yes - the “Provided to YouTube by Sing It Again Records” audio is the official channel upload.
- How does this track connect to later numbers?
- Hades name-checks work and walls that echo through “Why We Build the Wall” and the unrest around “His Kiss, The Riot.”
- Where does it sit in the show?
- Act I, directly before “When the Chips Are Down,” bridging temptation to consequence.
- Are there other official versions?
- The 2017 Live Original Cast Recording includes a performed version with the Off-Broadway cast. A 2024 West End live album and a 2025 filmed West End staging also keep the number in circulation.
Awards and Chart Positions
Album accolades. The OBC album won the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
| Chart (Album) | Peak |
|---|---|
| US Cast Albums | 1 |
| US Billboard 200 | 49 |
| US Independent Albums | 4 |
How to Sing Hey, Little Songbird?
Who sings what. Hades is cast for a true bass; Eurydice sits in mezzo-soprano/alto territory. That shapes phrasing - his lines can sit heavy and grounded, hers should carry quick, alert energy.
Onset and placement. Keep Hades’s opening easy and resonant - no squeeze on the low notes. Eurydice’s entries want speechy clarity first, vibrato second, like a thought you’re half-afraid to say out loud.
Breath strategy. Think in four-beat bricks. Top up between the sales-pitch couplets so the punchlines ride one breath - especially the “hand-to-mouth” quip.
Practice materials. If you need a clean reference, Hal Leonard’s official vocal selections include this song; use the piano reduction to map breaths and dialect.
Additional Info
Playbill rolled out a preview clip the week of release, a tidy snapshot of how the show used the internet to keep building heat while the full album was still in the oven.
For completists: the Off-Broadway Live Original Cast Recording features “Hey, Little Songbird (Live),” a leaner cut with the earlier company. It’s a great A/B with the Broadway studio take.