"Bring me song of the sea... sing me a song of the sea." After a sailor´s theme, a six pack of songs about the sea is so obvious I almost opted out in the end. But as there are simply too many great songs inspired by the briny, I had no choice really. Selecting six beauties out of a truckload of candidates was hard enough. Here´s the ones that made the cut.
Robert Wyatt´s contribution stems from his terrific Rock Bottom album. "You look different every time you come from the foam-crested brine, it's your skin shining softly in the moonlight... partly fish, partly porpoise, partly baby sperm whale..." Great stuff. Postrockers avant la lettre Codeine succeed in matching the rhythm of the waves, while freakfolkers Tunng are stuck in the big city, transistor radio buzzing, longing for the sea.
Iggy finds himself in the service of the bourgeoisie and threatens to jump into The Endless Sea. A gem from New Values, his last really good album. The protagonist of the Hüskers´ classic punk opera Zen Arcade finds himself at a desolate shore. "The waves kept on repeating, each one crashing to the shore, and my footprints nowhere leading, as they disappeared once more..."
And last but not least here´s Sandy Denny again, this time making an appearance with the great Fotheringay. "Sea flows under your doors in London town, and all your defences are all broken down... you laugh at me on funny days, but mine's the slight of hand... don't you know I am a joker, a deceiver? And I'm waiting for the land."
Robert Wyatt - Sea Song MP3
Codeine - Sea MP3
Tunng - Song Of The Sea MP3
Iggy Pop - The Endless Sea MP3
Hüsker Dü - Standing By The Sea MP3
Fotheringay - The Sea MP3
3 comments:
Lovely playlist, this.
I started in from Codeine, then went back to Robert Wyatt, whose stuff I can sometimes leave or take. As great as the rest here, though; not a weak song in the bunch.
I seemed to run into server issues on the Fotheringay track, which is a shame. I'll stop by later and give it another earful.
Oh. And I was prepared to agree with you on "New Values", but then I remembered "American Caesar"; which was something of a return to form.
Cheers!
Glad you like ´em Ib. I don´t own American Caesar, but I remember it as being a tad too rawk for my taste. Will check again. Btw, keep the dub flag flying, much appreciated round here.
You're in the right ballpark regards "AC" being a tad on the RAWK side, but at least he slowed the pace a tad and was insistent the backing exist to set the jewel that is his voice as opposed to a competing element.
All too often after the demise of the excellent Stooges, he has allowed various journeymen players to 'strut their stuff' all over his work; ridiculous guitar solos that should have been put down at birth.
BTW, that TUNNG tune is way better than I was expecting. I hadn't heard that one either. All good.
Glad you approve of the mini DUB series. I'm trying not to let it run out of steam.
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