“I’ve never sung anywhere without giving the people listening to me a chance to join in - as a kid, as a lefty, as a man touring the U.S.A. and the world, as an oldster. I guess it’s kind of a religion with me. Participation. That’s what’s going to save the human race.”
Into the final week in the #FearOfMu21c project, crowdsourcing the greatest singles of the 21st century. Here’s an index post. And here's one with as many nominations (1) as the entire Ed Sheeran catalogue.
Baby shark - Pinkfong
Throughout this list, I've commented on the techniques of song writing. A good pop song is catchy and memorable and has hooks. A great pop song will use its limited time to go somewhere unexpected. A good song will convey its message; a great song will leave us in no doubt about its meaning. A good song will want to be heard; a great song demands to be heard again.
"Baby shark" is a great song.
"Baby shark" grew out of a campfire song, popular amongst the young people of Korea. The original writers have been lost to time, we do know that versions of the song were around in the late 20th century. Alemuel had a decent hit in 2007 with "Kleiner Hai", a German-language tale of a small shark that grew up and ate a diver. Other translations were made and released in the following years.
Back in Seoul, SmartStudy was founded in 2010. The media company released classic nursery and playground songs from their culture, crafts, puppet videos, and a collection of animations for children. With a pink fox mascot, the Pinkfong brand of animations and phone apps was successful in south-east Asia.
And then the Pinkfong company recorded "Baby Shark". It was successful in the original version, and a "dance version" of the video turned into a phenomenal success, the original clip has been seen an average of one-and-a-half times by every person on the planet.
"Baby shark" is remarkable in many other ways. For instance, it uses a tremendously restricted vocabulary. Eighteen words would be an unremarkable clause in a Lorde song, or a short album title for Fiona Apple. "Baby shark" uses precisely 18 words. Total. Across the entire song, just 18 words.
The song is written in G-major, with a change to C-major for the final stanza - two of the most common musical keys in pop music. To sing "Baby shark", you need a range of just half an octave, so even the worst voice can sing it reasonably (compare with other well-known tunes with minimal range: "Too many broken hearts", "G'd save the queen").
Lyrically, the song tells a story and circles back upon itself: it introduces the participants, encourages us care about them, takes them on a literal journey, and resolves it, imploring us to set out again.
Whether we like it or not, "Baby shark" has become an absolute staple of the pop charts. It's in the top 60 most-streamed music tracks almost every week of the year, and has gone from utter obscurity to something everyone knows.
"Baby shark" is the biggest cultural moment of the past ten years, and fully deserving a nomination for the century's Best 50 Songs. (But just the one.)
Well may the world go,
The world go, the world go,
Well may the world go,
When I'm far away.
Well may the skiers turn,
The swimmers churn, the lovers burn
Peace, may the generals learn
When I'm far away.
Sweet may the fiddle sound
The banjo play the old hoe down
Dancers swing round and round
When I'm far away.
Fresh may the breezes blow
Clear may the streams flow
Blue above, green below
When I'm far away.
Well may the world go,
The world go, the world go,
Well may the world go,
When I'm far away.
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Peter Seeger / Traditional
It’s been a while since I last posted and updated this blog. Now that I’m back, will be posting more of the latest music videos and their lyrics, so stay tuned!