I had a devil of a time finding this song. I knew I wanted to write about it but I haven't heard it in a long time and the only lead I had is that I liked it on Spotify approximately two years ago. But I found it! Anyway, this song reminds me of mermaids but it only mentions them once. Mermaids - and their cousins, sirens, undines, and naiads, as in Greek mythology - are water spirits with the top half of a beautiful woman (or man) and a fish-like tail. Mermaids and their ilk are found in cultures across the world, from China to the British Isles to Northern Africa. Pirates sailing in the Caribbean even claimed they saw mermaids in the New World and brought those tales back, to enthrall the public, adding more mystery to an already mysterious place. Mermaids of all shades are a type of faery, a water elemental - depending on the type of mermaid, they are found in either fresh water (undines and naiads) or the ocean (sirens). Although they appear human-like, they lack a human soul and must acquire one by marrying a human in order to become Immortal.
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| "The Mermaid and the Prince" by Edmund Dulac |
The most famous mermaid - "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen - has a fairly depressing ending. Instead of running away and marrying the prince, like we see in the Disney version, the Little Mermaid dies of a broken heart. You know the first part - she makes a bargain with a sea witch to sell her beautiful voice for a pair of human legs, and the chance to win a human soul by gaining the love of a human. But the legs, although they allow her to dance as no other can dance, are painful and feel like she's walking on knives all the time. And if she does not succeed in winning a human's love, she will die. Still, she drinks the potion the sea witch gives her and ascends to the human world. The prince finds her and the Little Mermaid becomes his favorite companion. But his parents insist that he marry a princess from a neighboring kingdom. He tells the Little Mermaid that he doesn't love the princess and that he can only love the temple girl who he believes saved him. The temple girl turns out to be the princess and he consents to the marriage. That night, the Little Mermaid can feel her heart breaking and knows that she will die in the morning. Her sisters arrive and give her a knife, telling her to kill the prince and let the blood drip on her feet - if she does this, she'll return to her mermaid form. However, she cannot bring herself to kill him and throws the knife into the sea. As the sun rises, her body dissolves into foam but angels grab her consciousness and bring her to heaven. For her selflessness, she is given the opportunity to earn a soul by doing good deeds for 300 years.
There is a ship
Its sails were like two hearts beating, and
Its pace was like two wrists pulsing…
To a compass that fell silent
At the sound of song
"Song for a Siren" almost sounds like it's sung by sirens. The way Jen Kingwell sings the word "again" at the end of the chorus is how I would imagine a siren's song to sound. That's one of the things I would wish for if I lived in a fairytale - the voice of a siren. I've had classical voice training and still feel as if I sound like shit when I sing. I've always wished I had an alluring voice, like Ariel from "The Little Mermaid." I used to not care too much - I did karaoke pretty often in high school and participated in choral competitions - I even had my own song in a school play! - but I had my friends to cheer me on. Oh well. My son likes my voice and he's the only one that really hears me sing anymore anyway. Again, one of those romantic ideas I got from watching too many movies, that people fall in love by hearing someone's voice. So fantastical...I let my imagination run away sometimes.
Let's break down the lyrics. I couldn't find any song discussions on the meaning, so I'm flying blind here. I think it's a sad love song, and the ship is a metaphor for a relationship. It's moving along, smoothly, seemingly of its own volition. And then it hits rocky seas but at first, it seems it can weather the rough waves. But then things get really bad and the crew begins to distrust each other. They want different things than what the captain wants. Things fall apart and the (relation)ship sinks. The last verse is a sad acceptance that the journey is over. Honestly, I didn't realize fairy tale songs were going to be so fucking depressing when I started this month. I've been trying to find some more chipper tunes but when I found myself looking at stuff by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, I realized I was in dark territory. Only a couple more weeks left - I'll keep searching but all I'm finding is gothic metal and pop songs about Cinderella - all of which are less than happy. Sticking to a theme has been harder than I thought it would be, but it has been an interesting experience.
"Song for a Siren" Video
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