Recorded in 1984 and originally released in March 1985, "Birdy" marks the first occasion Peter collaborated with French-Canadian producer and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Lanois, who later co-produced both Peter's solo and U.S. albums The soundtrack to the Alan Parker film of the same name - the story of a Vietnam veteran who has the ambition to fly like Icarus - shows Peter flexing his creative muscles free of any commercial pressure, and features a number of tracks made up of elements from Peter's third and fourth solo albums.