We’ve had songs about jungles and songs about deserts, but there’s one more terrain feature/environment that we really ought to cover, and that’s what Robert Heinlein described as the “ungrokkable vastness of ocean.” The ocean is wide and deep; we know more about the surface of Mars than we do about the ocean’s depths, so it’s not surprising that there are more than a few songs about the sea. I could go into lots of genres here, but for the most part, let’s keep it to rock & roll.
The Beach Boys, Sloop John B (1966): This great Beach Boys hit, which was still getting a lot of radio play in the late 1970s when I was barnstorming around northeast Iowa in a 1966 Ford, is a cover of an old West Indies sea chanty that was first recorded by Lee Hays, from a band called the Weavers. But the Beach Boys took it from a simple sea chanty to a full-on rock & roll tune, even featuring a 12-string guitar.
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The Beatles, Octopus’s Garden (1969): One of only two songs Ringo Starr wrote for the Beatles, this one appeared on the famous Abbey Road album, and was well into their odd, almost psychedelic phase. The origin of the song is an interesting tale in itself; it reportedly arose during a boating trip to Sardinia that Ringo took with a friend and his friend’s family. The friend offered Ringo a lunch of octopus, which Ringo declined, but the captain of the boat started telling Ringo about octopi, how they were intelligent and dexterous, how they collected shiny things – and thus, the song. And the friend? Actor Peter Sellers, of Pink Panther and Dr. Strangelove fame.
Grand Funk Railroad, I’m Your Captain (1970): This was the closing track of Grand Funk’s 1970 album Closer to Home, and it’s their longest studio recording at a bit over ten minutes. The song is about a sea captain facing down a mutinous crew, and features a long orchestral movement towards the end of the original studio recording of this song. There was a shorter version that got a lot of radio play, but I prefer the longer version.Looking Glass, Brandy (You're a Fine Girl) (1972): The four members of Looking Glass were college students at Rutgers when they met. An article about this song appeared in the Spring 2009 Rutgers alumni magazine, which read in part:
The band recorded the song seven times before they got it right. 'Brandy' - based on the name of (lead singer) Elliot Lurie's high school sweetheart 'Randy' - tells the story of a musician torn between his love for a life at sea and his love for a barmaid. Released as the B-side of 'Don't It Make You Feel Good,' the song was overlooked, as was the A-side, for that matter, until Harv Moore, a Washington DC disc jockey took it up as a personal cause.
Now that is a dedicated fan.
Led Zeppelin, The Ocean (1973): OK, I’ll admit that I cheated on this one. The ocean referred to in this song is the audience in a concert, as seen from the stage. But I included this because, in 1978 (if memory serves), I was in that ocean, in St. Paul, Minnesota. At one point, we worked our way right up to the stage and got to see from about ten feet in range, the band doing The Immigrant Song, which is the most Led Zeppelin song that ever Led Zeppelined. So, yeah, close enough.Read More: Start Your Weekend Right With 7 Great Songs From the Desert
Crosby, Stills & Nash, Southern Cross (1982): I can’t abide these guys’ politics, but then, if I only listened to musicians whose politics I approved of, when it comes to rock & roll, I’d pretty much be limited to Ted Nugent. The great memory I have of this song isn’t really about the song, but every time I hear this admittedly beautiful tune, I’m reminded of the trip I took for work to Johannesburg, South Africa. My Dad was still alive; he was an old World War II bomber navigator, trained in celestial navigation, and he asked me to make sure I saw the Crux Constellation – the Southern Cross. He never had the chance to see it, but I saw it for him, and with that, he was satisfied.
Great Big Sea, What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor? (1995): Now this is an authentic old sea chanty, done in a folksy, sort-of rock style by the Newfoundland folk rock band, Great Big Sea. It’s a fun song about the increasingly bizarre ways to get a drunken sailor up and functioning to face the day, including such suggestions as “shave his belly with a rusty razor, earl-eye in the morning.”
Any former sailors out there? I’m sure you, and all of the readers, have some favorites – sea chanties, Jimmy Buffett tunes, what have you. The comments, as always, are all yours.
