[2] At his Texas studio, Beam invited Brian Deck, with whom he had recorded his breakthrough LP, Our Endless Numbered Days (2004), to assist in developing his next effort.
Deck would make a loop for Beam to record guitar parts to, which led to the development of "Flightless Bird, American Mouth".
It begins quiet and becomes more fully-fledged over its runtime: Beam's vocal tracks are multi-tracked so that he harmonizes with himself, while Rob Burger performs piano and accordion on the song.
[4] Joe Tangari at Pitchfork praised the album's sequencing, calling "Flightless Bird" as its closing track "stunning and starkly emotional.
"[5] Michael Metivier from PopMatters praised its waltzing tempo, writing, "Crystalline piano fills sweep through the album’s final moments, trading time with coos and sighs, the song simultaneously one of courtship and mourning.
But you know how it is, you hear it too many times and it sticks - so that's what happened.Iron & Wine performed the song on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno twice; first on January 6, 2009[11] and again on December 1, 2011 after the release of the "Wedding Version".