“Birds” is the third demo of The Theme Show Shoutcast, which initially aired on Winamp on December 16, 1999.
Don’t you know about the bird? Well everybody knows that the bird is the word!
“Surfin’ Bird” – The Trashmen, 1963, Producer- Jack Bates
Hello from 2025. Looking back on all these demos for the curated playlist recreations has been interesting. I think I’ve improved a lot since then in terms of flow, song variety, and theme choices – but there are still a lot of gems here and there, so I hope you’re enjoying them.
This demo has been recreated for your enjoyment at:
Like earlier demos, this episode was built around three defining segments:
- Theme Show Warm-Up: Every broadcast kicked off with five fast-paced, high-energy tracks, setting the tone. Then, after the fourth song, I would check my Yahoo! Messenger, eagerly awaiting the first correct guess of the theme. The person who answered first won a prize, which, more often than not, was a Pez dispenser.
- Requests: This segment was designed to blend pre-arranged selections with real-time audience engagement.. While a significant portion of the song choices were curated in advance, if someone had an exciting song idea that fit the theme, they could message me, and—provided I had the track in my library, I’d weave it into the setlist.
- Obligatory Polka: Of course, I tried to end every episode with a Polka song. Even if the final song didn’t match the overarching theme, that was entirely fine. I’ve always found Polka entertaining, and as a longtime fan of “Weird Al” Yankovic, I did my best to make sure this unexpected finale stayed intact.
As time passed, the show evolved. Eventually, I decided to simplify the podcast pre-recording process by trimming down these segments. Despite that, elements of the “warm-up” concept continue to live on—often appearing in newer Spotify and YouTube Music playlists, where I still organize songs based on BPM and energy level.
Variations on a theme about birds would return in:
and
Setlist
| Color Key | Not Available on Spotify | Not Available on YTMusic | Not Available on Either |
Theme Show Workout
| Song | Artist |
|---|---|
| Cuckoo Bird | Trenton James |
| Fly, Robin, Fly | The SIlver Connection |
| Kill That Bird (Vocal Edit) | DJ Porno |
| Goofy Bird | DJ Kingpin |
| Polly | Nirvana |
THEME GUESS WINNERS: gonkdroid (through Yahoo IM) and osserman on IRC
Standard Playlist
| Song | Artist |
|---|---|
| Doin’ the Pigeon | Bert (from Sesame Street) |
| Chickery Chick | Sammy Kaye, Billy Williams & Nancy Normal |
| Lesbian Seagull | Engelbert Humperdinck |
| Farley Rips Big Bird a New One | Edsel III & The Schematics |
| Disco Duck | Rick Dees |
| Poisoning Pigeons in the Park | Tom Lehrer |
| Surfin’ Bird | The Trashment |
| Woody Woodpecker Theme | George Tibbles & Randy Idriss |
| Rubber Duckie | Ernie (from Sesame Street) |
| The Bird | Danny & His Dirty Birds |
| Bird | Dead Can Dance |
| Caged Birds | ELpH vs. Coil |
| Ibis | Cirque de Soleil |
| The Bird: 2.0 Update | Krizo |
| Caged Bird | The Shroud |
| A Flock of Birds | Chako |
| Raven’s Land | Aurelio Voltaire |
| The Birds of Rhiannon | Faith & the Muse |
| Birdhouse | The Blessing |
| Bluebird | Daniel Ash |
| Blackbird | The Beatles |
| Year of the Parrot | Primus |
| Seagulls Screaming, Kiss Her, Kiss Her | XTC |
| Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream) | The Icicle Works |
| Mexican Blackbird | ZZ Top |
| Rainbird | Love & Rockets |
| Blue Jay Way | The Beatles |
Obligatory Polka
| Song | Artist |
|---|---|
| The Birdie Song | The Tweets |