David Berman Memorial Bird

Blue illustrated bird on yellow background with red signature text and matte finish

David Berman was an American musician, poet, and artist most well known for his involvement in the indie-rock band Silver Jews (1989-2009). Berman was a beloved songwriter and has long been known for his lyrics. He was also a poet, publishing one work of poetry “Actual Air,” and an artist, with the cartoon collection “The Portable February.”  In 2009, Berman retired from music, as he believed his work could never live up to the wrongs done by his estranged father Richard Berman, a gun, tobacco, and alcohol lobbyist. He returned to music in 2018 as a co-producer and in May 2019, under the moniker Purple Mountains, released new music for the first time in over a decade.

Berman died on August 7, 2019 at the age of 52. The day after his death, an informal memorial was held by his friends outside the Met Breuer Museum in New York City.

The bird drawing is a piece of art work completed by Berman just before his death.

The lyrics “you can't change the feeling but you can change your feeling about the feelings in a second or two” are from the song “People” on the Silver Jews 1998 album “American Water.”

This button was manufactured by the Busy Beaver Button Co.