Nellie Furtado wrote I'm Like a Bird quickly while wrapping up the recording of her album. She's proud of the success it's garnered her, and what that says about her songwriting abilities.

The song is in the key of B flat Major, which is an odd key. A whole step flat from the usual "C" Major. A half step sharp from the common A Major, and a Flatted Fifth from the common E Major. This probably gives the song a fresh feel compared to the other songs on the radio.

In many ways I'm Like a Bird is an ideal pop song. It sticks to many conventions and breaks just a few here and there. The tempo, I'm guessing is in the 90-100 range, which is about right for an R&B song. Faster than the human heartbeat at rest, slower than a dance song.

The verse, a "I - vi - I - V" progression is reminiscent of many pop songs from Otis Redding's "I Can't Turn You Loose" and Sam and Dave's Maybe Babyto Oasis' "Wonderwall." The vi can be thought of as a substitution for the common IV chord. It's a smooth progression that isn't jarring and because of the overlapping notes in each of the chords, often sounds like no progression at all. If it wasn't for the heavy bass influence and stacatto delivery you would hardly realize this part is "moving" and a clever arrangement could hide this. The arrangement, however, has made the motion blatent. Though the vocals follow the progression very closely, so that's a tip off to the movement. This is probably attributed to the fact that Nellie wrote both the chords and melody. Often when one band member writes the chords and another the melody, the melody rides on top of the chord progression without following it too closely.

The pre-chorus does it's job of building tension nicely. This part is "IV - V." The IV is a new chord in the song, and replaces the I chord, preventing this section from resolving. It only has 1 note in common with the I chord (unlike the iii or the vi that has 2 notes in common with the I chord), so it isn't a satisfactory resolution. The rhythm here also changes from stacatto to driving, contributing to it's building feel. It maintains some of it's stacatto feel, but begins to fall more into a straightforward rhythm.

Now we get to the Chorus. It's a "I, V, ii, IV" progression. This is a very stable feeling progression, and many songs have been built on it alone. "Sweet Jane" by Lou Reed is built on these same chords in a different order. The ii chord is also new, and lends a fresh feeling to the song at this point, indeed the moment of most tension seems to come at the ii now. Harmonically it's very different from the I chord, not having any notes in common with it. Incidentlally this is where the "I don't know where my home is" line starts. Rhythmically, this is the most driving part of the song, again in very strong contrast with the stacatto verse and pre-chorus. Since both the chorus and verse start on I chords, the chorus flows nicely into the verse.

The Bridge is a "IV, vi, IV, V" progression. This section has no new chords, but like the pre-chorus, never resolves to the I chord. in fact, the bridge echoes the verse, but replaces every I chord with a IV chord. The Bridge can also be called a "Breakstrain," whose purpose is to relieve you from the monotony of the verse/chorus structure. Think of it as a detour. Also, it serves to set up the "Rave Up" ending which, many bars later, finally resolves.

Unlike a lot of bridges, this bridge doesn't start out on the relative minor or the third. This serves to give the song a sort of coherence. The mood doesn't really change here as much as other songs, it doesn't move into a minor key, it just starts on the sub dominant and never quite resolves to the I, almost acting like an extended pre-chorus.

Both the bridge and the following pre-chorus have an extra chord - she extends the final V chord in each for one measure. While many traditionalists would object to this - traditional songs have a very strict chord structure, forcing you to be creative within a pre-defined number of bars. These chords, however, heighten the tension of the song by breaking your expectations ever so sleightly. You'll probably feel just a little extra tension, like something should be happening that isn't, during these extensions. Like waiting for the "other shoe to drop."

The song ends in a traditional rave up, which is basically the Chorus repeated into a fade (which implies it goes on forever).

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