Oriole Musical Ability Overrated

Click here to hear the song of the Baltimore Oriole (the bird, not the baseball player). It's very pretty, but I think that people make too much of the "beautiful melody" of bird song. As melodies, they really are not very good. At best, they are musical phrases or "hooks". Calling them a melody is like calling "Shave and a haircut, two bits!" a melody.

I think that people who praise the beautiful melodies of birds are being patronizing; what they're really saying is "That's a great melody, for a composer with such a tiny brain."