Why Do Birds Sing? is the fifth studio album by Violent Femmes, released on April 30, 1991. It was the band's last album with original drummer Victor DeLorenzo, who left two years later to devote his time to acting, and was produced by Michael Beinhorn, best-known then for his work with Red Hot Chili Peppers on Mother's Milk and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan.
The album featured the single "American Music," which rose to number 2 on Billboards Modern Rock chart during the week of May 18, 1991, and became a staple of the band's live shows.
Track listing
Personnel
Violent Femmes
- Gordon Gano – vocals, guitar
- Brian Ritchie – bass, guitar, bouzouki, banjo, ukulele, mouth harp, didgeridoo, xylophone, glockenspiel, vocals
- Victor DeLorenzo – drums, percussion, tranceaphone, vocals
Additional musicians
- Michael Beinhorn – Hammond organ on "American Music", Mellotron on "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" and "Used To Be", piano on "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" and "I'm Free", harmonium on "Used To Be"
- Sid Page, Suzie Katayama, Ilene Novog, Larry Corbett – strings on "Used To Be"
- Tommy Mandel – keyboards on "American Music"
Production
- Violent Femmes – Producer
- Eric "ET" Thorngren – Engineer, mixing
- David Vartanian – Mixing
- Susan Rogers – Engineer
- Tom Fritze – Assistant engineer
- Lori Fumar – Assistant engineer
- Mike Kloster – Assistant engineer
- Howie Weinberg – Mastering
- Mary Jones – Photography
Charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|+ Chart performance for Why Do Birds Sing?
!scope="col"|Chart (1991)
!scope="col"|Peak<br />position
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|-
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!scope="row"|US Billboard 200
| style="text-align:center;"|141
|}