I took the kids on a big adventure yesterday to Watson Mill State Park. It's a beautiful park with a long covered wooden bridge and waterfalls. Kenzie and a friend went tubing. Inara and I pretended we were being swept away by the waterfalls and had to save each other.
Oh, how I love water! Which is ironic. Because I used to think going to the beach meant coming home looking like a lobster.
Maybe my love of water is why “The Mermaid Song” has stuck with me these many long years.
I posted a new video of it on YouTube on Monday. I recorded it for Andrew McKee's Life's A Faire podcast and webcast. If you haven't done so yet…
Then post a comment on YouTube. What's your favorite Renaissance festival song?
The more views, watch time, and comments the video can get, the better it'll perform.
The first time I heard “The Mermaid Song” was at Excalibur Fantasy Faire. Every musician sang it in their set. Every. Single. One. I was so sick of the song. I told Andrew McKee, my fellow Brobdingnagian Bard, I would never perform it. I hated it!
Then we were hired to play the West Texas Renaissance Faire in Abilene, Texas. We needed an upbeat song for front gate. “The Mermaid” popped in my head. Why? I'll never know. But I played it to my own annoyance.
I still remember the inquisitive look on Andrew McKee's face, “You're playing this? You just told me you would NEVER play it?!?”
Yeah. Yeah. I know. I shouldn't. But I did.
It was an instant favorite.
What can I say. The song is catchy. It's fun.
The Brobdingnagian Bards released it as the first track of our album A Faire to Remember. I recorded it again on Going for Brogue and St Patrick's Day Songs for Kids.
It's now a favorite of my wife too.
It's funny. One day you swear off something because it seems so bad or painful. The next day you change. You are transformed. You find new life in something you once loved. And your life is better for it. Just like with “The Mermaid Song”. And just like my love of water and the ocean.
You can read the lyrics and find all the chords to learn to play the song on my Irish & Celtic song lyrics website.
#marcsmusings #celtfathernews
