〈A Bird in a Gilded Cage〉는 아서 J. 램브가 작사하고, 해리 폰 틸저가 작곡한 노래이다. 1900년 노래 중에서는 가장 대중적인 곡 중 하나로,^[1] 악보만 200만 장이 넘게 팔렸다.^[2][3] 제어 마호니 (에디슨)과 스티브 포터 (컬럼비아)가 유명한 버전이 녹음되기 2년 전에 먼저 녹음하였다.^[3]

이 노래는 사랑 대신 돈을 택해 결혼을 한 아름다운 여성의 비참한 인생을 다룬 것으로, 가사는 아래와 같다.^[4]

The ballroom was filled with fashion's throng,

It shone with a thousand lights,

And there was a woman who passed along,

The fairest of all the sights,

A girl to her lover then softly sighed,

There's riches at her command;

But she married for wealth, not for love, he cried,

Though she lives in a mansion grand.

She's only a bird in a gilded cage,

A beautiful sight to see,

You may think she's happy and free from care,

She's not, though she seems to be,

'Tis sad when you think of her wasted life,

For youth cannot mate with age,

And her beauty was sold,

For an old man's gold,

She's a bird in a gilded cage.

I stood in a churchyard just at eve',

When sunset adorned the west,

And looked at the people who'd come to grieve,

For loved ones now laid at rest,

A tall marble monument marked the grave,

Of one who'd been fashion's queen,

And I thought she is happier here at rest,

Than to have people say when seen,

• 위키미디어 공용에 A Bird in a Gilded Cage 관련 미디어 분류가 있습니다.