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The Bird was the sixth and final track on The Time's third album Ice Cream Castle, and, in the Summer/Fall of 1984, The Bird was released as the album's second single. The Bird was written by Morris Day and Prince under the pseudonym Jamie Starr.
While reflecting on the track's history on Facebook in 2014, Jesse Johnson wrote "I wrote a 4 track version on 1999 tour, Prince kinda like the hook, he threw the rest of what I did in the trash can as he commenced to write and performed a straight heater." Johnson's name was initially included in the credits when submitted for copyright in May 1984, but after he left the band, his name was removed from the credits when the track was released. It was co-produced by Morris Day and Prince under the name The Starr Company. The song also features in the movie Purple Rain.
A 1998 live version recorded by Morris Day and The Time was released in 2004 on their album It's About Time, but this has no input by Prince and is not included here, as it is considered a cover version.
The released recording is a live recording from The Time's concert at First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN, USA, on 4 October 1983, and features no musical input by Prince; it is, in fact, the only track on the album to feature the entire line-up of The Time, as the studio tracks were recorded almost entirely by Prince and Morris Day.
Prince and Morris Day did record a studio version of this song also, however, three months after the live recording, on 4 January 1984 (three days after additional recording on We Can Fuck (later released as We Can Funk), and the day before Oliver's House and The Belle Of St. Mark), but the decision was made to release the live version on the album instead, closing the album in a similar way to Purple Rain, perhaps because of the inclusion of the song in the movie Purple Rain.
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