What the hell is with all the sea shanties?!
Gather round, my darlings, and let me help you get up to speed on what the fuck is going on with ... sea shanties.
Every now and then there are situations that strike a society so hard that all we can do - is rise up in song.
Simple - almost so simple my more skeptical readers would view it as too simple but the facts are there. Sometimes when there are moments of extreme stress, isolation or et cetera - we lash out in song. War Songs. Gospels. Mining songs. Field Songs. Jigs. Reels. Sea Shanties.
A repetitive harmony that allows us to join together even though we be separated. Be it by the sea, a man with a whip, greedy corporations or in our current state: a pandemic.
We harmonize. We start with a beat. We begin a song. We repeat the chorus so others may join in. That moment of unity literally unites us. It can be something as serious as Amazing Grace (displayed by President Barack Obama) or something as silly as The Kittyman by the Trailer Park Boys. For a moment we are connected and we feel each other. Our voices are one. We're not alone and that is important whether you are sweating in a field, or staring into the darkness of a mine that might collapse or a refinery detonate on you, or whether you are staring at the same fucking four corners of your room for the umpteenth time in 7 months 0- desperately reaching into a tiny glowing cube for a connection. Sea Shanties are up. Before that jigs and reels were up in popular music because Selective Service required EVERY male that hit 18 to register for the draft and that meant automatic enlistment into the Vietnam war. We are experiencing our moment to scream together in harmony. We have a beat. We despair. We yearn to connect. Somehow - we picked sea shanties to reach across the distances we perceive.
Now you know.
Every now and then there are situations that strike a society so hard that all we can do - is rise up in song.
Simple - almost so simple my more skeptical readers would view it as too simple but the facts are there. Sometimes when there are moments of extreme stress, isolation or et cetera - we lash out in song. War Songs. Gospels. Mining songs. Field Songs. Jigs. Reels. Sea Shanties.
A repetitive harmony that allows us to join together even though we be separated. Be it by the sea, a man with a whip, greedy corporations or in our current state: a pandemic.
We harmonize. We start with a beat. We begin a song. We repeat the chorus so others may join in. That moment of unity literally unites us. It can be something as serious as Amazing Grace (displayed by President Barack Obama) or something as silly as The Kittyman by the Trailer Park Boys. For a moment we are connected and we feel each other. Our voices are one. We're not alone and that is important whether you are sweating in a field, or staring into the darkness of a mine that might collapse or a refinery detonate on you, or whether you are staring at the same fucking four corners of your room for the umpteenth time in 7 months 0- desperately reaching into a tiny glowing cube for a connection. Sea Shanties are up. Before that jigs and reels were up in popular music because Selective Service required EVERY male that hit 18 to register for the draft and that meant automatic enlistment into the Vietnam war. We are experiencing our moment to scream together in harmony. We have a beat. We despair. We yearn to connect. Somehow - we picked sea shanties to reach across the distances we perceive.
Now you know.
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