EDIT: Literally moments after posting this I FOUND IT. After searching for years. I don't know how I managed to find it this time? ITS AUTUMN LEAF by Teresa Jennings. My school just changed the lyric from "leaf" to "bird", which made it difficult to find. I explicitly know my school performed it as "bird", because we made golden birds to accompany the piece. Interesting!
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There was this song my class sang in Elementary school that I'm having such difficulty finding.
This would have been United States, early 2000s (around 2007). I remember some lyrics and melody.
Lyrics I remember
[verse]
.....little bird, in my hand....
....you were brown, now you're gold....
how did your colors get so bold?
[chorus]
little bird, in my hand
lovely gold.......
little bird, you can fly
lovely gold, in the sky
Melody
https://voca.ro/1bw9jtRtPfof