Background

It was the second novelty song to be recorded under the stage name David Seville (after seven straight songs beginning with "Armen's Theme"), as well as the last song to be recorded before the creation of Alvin and the Chipmunks

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...

. Like Seville's first novelty song, "Witch Doctor", the song has a sped-up voice. Although both songs have the same sped-up voices, "The Bird on My Head" did not achieve the success of its predecessor, peaking at #34.

Lyrics

The lyrics describe a man with a bird sitting on his head, sitting in a vacant lot. Throughout the song, the man and the bird sing together talking about where they belong and lamenting their current position-- the man lacking a house and wife, and the bird not having a tree.