"Birdmad Girl," about a young girl in a mental institution, was inspired by the Dylan Thomas poem "Love In The Asylum," which depicts "a girl mad as birds."
The track features typically cryptic lyrics, most notably the repeated line "Oh, I should be a polar bear." According to Smith, "The Polar Bear was a symbol (zoo-wise) for me insensible savagery caged to be stared at. Or something like that..." Indeed, the line does seem to reflect the sympathetic tone of the lyrics. Smith appears to empathize with the girl, who recognizes "burns with love." He refuses to perceive her through the stigma often surrounding mental illness; she is not defined by her illness, but instead "flies outside this cage singing girl mad words."
In an interview during the recording of the album, bassist Lol Tolhurst said of the song: "It was inspired by a Dylan Thomas book. It was written by Robert. It talks about a mad woman. It's funky. It was written during the Seventeen Seconds [the band's 1980 second album] era." (Libération, 1984)
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