Lyrics Page

Scarecrow

By Jason Upton

1,927 views Sep 25, 2026 updated A Table Full of Strangers, Vol. 1 album Verified editorial review

Song Meaning

Jason Upton builds the whole song around one unsettling image: "there's a scarecrow standing in a farmer's field, what it's guarding has not been revealed." The scarecrow shows up again a verse later "living in my memory," staring with "eyes that look but cannot see" — fear given a shape, propped up to guard something that was never actually worth protecting.

The bird metaphor that follows offers two ways to respond to that fear: "if I were a foolish bird, I'd listen to my fear and fly away... but if I were a wise bird, I'd listen to my heart and find a treasure waiting in the field." 2 Timothy 1:7's claim that God "gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control" sits underneath that choice — fear isn't the honest read of the situation, it's the scarecrow's read.

The song's strangest, most direct line arrives almost sideways: "everybody is scared of dying, but no one wants to roll away the stone." It's a resurrection image dropped into a song about ordinary fear, treating Easter morning as available now, not just as history. By the end the song drops metaphor entirely for a plain declaration — "I am, I am, a child of God" — which is exactly what 1 John 3:1 calls believers: not scarecrows guarding an empty field, but children.

Lyrics Verified by Editorial Team

There's a scarecrow standing in a farmer's field

What it's guarding has not been revealed

I can't find something that's been found before

And i won't find nothing if i close that door


If i were a bird

If i were a foolish bird

I'd listen to my fear

And fly away from here


But if i were a bird

If i were a wise bird

I'd listen to my heart

And find a treasure waiting in the field


There's a scarecrow living in my memory

It just hangs around and stares at me

With eyes that look but cannot see

There's a scarecrow living in my memory


If i were a bird

If i were a foolish bird

I'd listen to my fear

And fly away from here


But if i were a bird

If i were a wise bird

I'd listen to my heart

And find a treasure waiting in the field


Everybody leaves the garden 

Everybody needs a home

Everybody is scared of dying

But no one wants to roll away the stone


Go on a roll away the stone

(repeat)


There's a scarecrow wherever the church bell rings

Terrified by the gift she brings

We can't change nothing without suffering

And even scarecrow's need to hear the songs we sing


If i were a bird

If i were a foolish bird

I'd listen to my fear

And fly away from here


But if i were a bird

If i were a wise bird

I'd listen to my heart

And find a treasure waiting in the field


I am, i am, a child of God

I am, i am, a child of God

(repeat)


Let the fear be gone

Let the fear be gone

Let the fear be gone

You're a child of God

(repeat)


I am, i am, a child of God

I am, i am, a child of God


Let the fear be gone

Let the fear be gone

Let the fear be gone

You're a child of God


I am, i am, a child of God

I am, i am, a child of God





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