Mermaids mermaids mermaids

The new Train song "Mermaid" is really super catchy, and in this post I'm going to compare it to the other two mermaid songs I know: "The Mermaid" by Great Big Sea (though originally written by Shel Silverstein, which I learned while writing this), and "Mermaid Town" by the Abrams Brothers.

The Train song is certainly the most polished (read: moneyed) of the three (please excuse Vevo's obnoxiousness):


While the Abrams brothers win the prize for most creative and most adorable:


And then there's Great Big Sea (skip to about 2:00 for the song):



Great Big Sea has a special place in my heart because my cousin Josh really likes sea shanties, and now I associate them with our annual summer vacation to an island off the coast of Maine. We put Great Big Sea on repeat for hours and it's glorious. For the songs, I shall look at three aspects of quality: music, lyrical content, and the video.

The video for Great Big Sea isn't much of a music video, because this link is to a clip from a concert DVD, but it's really authentic and leads right into my high opinion of the quality of their music. These guys can really sing and play! Like whoah! It's amazing the ease with which they belt this song right out. I can picture them singing sea shanties in a tavern and being the best act around, hands down. Don't bother to look up the studio version of this song because it's nowhere near as good; the lead singer doesn't seem to really get into the act when he's not in front of an audience. 

Lyrical content for Great Big Sea: hilarious. With Shel Silverstein as the lyricist, what else could you expect? Sure it's slightly inappropriate, but I mean, it's a sea shanty. Again, what else could you expect? Sure the point of view character in the story is a bit of a jerk, but I mean, it's written entirely as a setup for the punchline lyric at the end. It's a funny joke. My favorite line is in the opening though: "Don't go looking for a mermaid, son, if you don't know how to swim!" 

Abrams Brothers, Mermaid Town: I saw this music video on CMT years ago, and fell in love immediately. It's so cute! This one wins in the video contest by a long shot. You can see they put a lot of effort into it with a small budget and it came out fantastic. Sadly they can't even hardly be counted as a one-hit wonder, because even this song didn't even get anywhere. I should have promoted it more. I'm promoting it now! Let's surprise them with a fresh wave of YouTube views. 

Musically, it may take a few listens to get used to the lead singer's voice, certainly, but it's not as annoying a voice as the lead from the Decemberists (don't hurt me; I like some Decemberists songs but you must admit the voice is an acquired taste). Anyway, "Mermaid Town" has a catchy tune. I'm not one to judge musical instrument talent, but I like the sound. It sticks in my head easily and pleasantly. 

Lyrically, "Mermaid Town" is rather happy for a mermaid-themed song. It has the best story outcome of the three songs, because he goes back to be with the mermaid in the end, and apparently can live and survive down in Mermaid Town. I like happy endings. 

Meanwhile, the lyrics for the currently popular "Mermaid" by Train don't make any sense. "Can't swim, so I took a boat..." Wait, you can't swim? First rule of mermaids, dude! He should have listened to Great Big Sea! 

I do like the chorus though. He's a pretty good rhymester, even if it doesn't really make sense. "Beauty in the water... angel on the beach. Ocean's daughter..." It's catchy. Musically, I do really like this song, which is the main reason I'm writing this. Riding back from visiting family for Easter, we heard this song several times on the radio, and I like it a lot.

Of course I had to watch the video though, and I was looking forward to it since I remembered the Mermaid Town video. Surely Train, with a bigger budget than the Abrams Brothers, could make a better video. Well, I guess not. Nice try Train. Fail.

"Can't swim so I took a boat to an island so remote, only Johnny Depp has ever been to it before..." He's in Hawaii for the video. Not very remote. And Johnny Depp doesn't even show up in the video. Come on now. And football?? Why would you put football in the video? I guess he performed the song at a game and used that as an opportunity to be lazy and include that footage so he didn't have to do as much for the video. He blurred out the TV network's logo from the football scenes. Look for it in the upper right.

The video is about him sort of looking for a mermaid he probably hallucinated, while the song is about a successful (?) relationship with a mermaid. I cannot accept this incongruity. My favorite part of the video is 2:59.

In summary: Great Big Sea wins for talent, the Abrams Brothers win for their music video and general adorbs, and Train... Train fails at everything and somehow manages to come up with a catchy song I really like. 

Which one do you like best? Any other good mermaid songs I should be aware of?

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