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A Year and a Day (for Mermaids)

by Robert Palomo - New Old Sea Shanties & Songs

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You may or may not remember from high school physics class that water is an amazing conductor of sound. So good, in fact, that sounds that are quite ordinary and unobtrusive on land can be highly disturbing, if not downright painful for sea creatures.

Such is quite definitely the case for Mermaids. Jangly things that we land creatures like for rhythms and sparkle can actually cross the pain threshold for them... bits such as tambourines, bells, triangles, cymbals and the like. I didn't realize that when I made my recording of "A Year and a Day". It was chock full of sparkly bits. But then I met a Mermaid.

You need not believe it. But they're out there. They've hoodwinked our doctors into thinking they're land creatures with a neurological disorder, so they can hang out among us, observe, and report on our fitness to join Civilized Peoples. (We're not there yet.) They may fool the docs, but every good sailor and singer of sea songs knows one when we meet one.

Therefore, I have created this version of the song, minus the jangly jarring bits, for my Mermaid friend (she knows who she is) and any other merfolk out there. Partly in hopes of being reported as fit to join Civilized Peoples, but mainly because she's a good kid sailing a tough course.

lyrics

Weigh, hey, sailing away!
Sailing away for a year and a day
Weigh, hey, sailing away!
We're sailing away for a year and a day

The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat
They took some honey and plenty of money
Wrapped up in a 5-pound note
The Owl looked up to the stars above
And he sang to a small guitar
“O lovely pussycat, O pussycat me love”
“Wot a beautiful pussycat you are, you are”
“Wot a beautiful pussycat you are”

Weigh, hey, sailing away!
Sailing away for a year and a day
Weigh, hey, sailing away!
We're sailing away for a year and a day

Pussycat sez to the Owl, “Ye elegant fowl!”
“How charmingly sweet ye sings!”
“Oh let us be married, too long we have tarried”
“But what shall we do for a ring, a ring?”
“Oh what shall we do for a ring?”

Weigh, hey, sailing away!
Sailing away for a year and a day
Weigh, hey, sailing away!
We're sailing away for a year and a day

So they sailed away, for a year and a day
To the land where the bong-tree grows
And there in a wood, a piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose, his nose
With a ring at the end of his nose

Weigh, hey, sailing away!
Sailing away for a year and a day
Weigh, hey, sailing away!
We're sailing away for a year and a day

“Dear pig, be ye willin’, to sell fer one shillin’
Yer ring?” Said the Piggy, “I will!”
So they took it away and was married next day
By the Turkey whattlives on the hill, the hill
By the Turkey what lives on the hill

Weigh, hey, sailing away!
Sailing away for a year and a day
Weigh, hey, sailing away!
We're sailing away for a year and a day

They dined on mince, and slices of quince
Which they ate with a Runcible Spoon
Then hand in hand, on the edge of the sand
They danced by the light of the moon, the moon
They danced by the light of the moon.

Weigh, hey, sailing away!
Sailing away for a year and a day
Weigh, hey, sailing away!
We're sailing away for a year and a day

credits

released November 7, 2019
Moon on Sea:
Frank van de Velde
www.flickr.com/photos/photosfrank/2219603116/
CC BY-SA 2.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/)
MODIFIED

Owl & Pussycat Sailing:
sammydavisdog
www.flickr.com/photos/25559122@N06/6261169053/
CC BY 2.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/)
MODIFIED

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Robert Palomo - New Old Sea Shanties & Songs Saint Petersburg, Russia

Robert Palomo plays & records "new old sea songs" - his own brand of Sea Shanties & Maritime Folk Music. After 26 years in the historic and beautiful port of Saint Petersburg, Russia, he and his wife and dogs were forced to abandon ship for their own safety in the spring of 2022. ... more

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