The Sea Otter Song

[guppiecat]

Some of you may remember when I originally posted this photo:


Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris) - "I has a abalone, (clap clap clap), I eats my abalone, (clap clap clap)..."

When I captioned it, it was abundantly clear to me that this was a song that otters sang while they opened abalone. The only problem was that I didn't know the rest of it. Then, last Sunday the entire chorus popped into my head. This morning, the rest of it came. Thus, if you care, the first song I ever wrote:



This is a song for young sea otters to sing as they swim around the campfire at night. The -clap- is done with one rock on their chest and the other in their paws as they practice opening abalones. As humans may be deficient in abalone-cracking techniques, they clap with their hands if they wish. (Yes, some rhymes are forced, but so long as it's fun, the otters don't care.)

Note, song may be sung a-rhythmically or a-melodically, but MUST be sung enthusiastically. If you wish to come up with ridiculously enthusiastic gestures to match parts of the song, feel free.

The Sea Otter Song
I'm a fuzzy little otter
With my friends, I dive and play
To keep from drift-ing with the tide,
I wrap in kelp at end of day
But one night, while fast asleep,
A big storm swept my kelp away!

Chorus:
But, -clap- Hey, -clap- That's okay!
'cause I has an abalone!
-clap- -clap- -clap-
And I eats my abalone!
-clap- -clap- -clap-
And eve-ry-thing turns... out... fine!

Lost at sea, alone and scared,
No map at all, no astrolabe.
I cleaned my fur and dove down deep
My wet surroundings, to survey
Then came across a giant squid,
Upon my bones he wished to prey!

Chorus

I swam up and I swam down
I had to escape with out delay.
I spied a ship, which scared the squid,
Which inked and ran (Which is cliche).
But then I saw the ship equipped
With spears and nets, to my dismay!

Chorus

The nets dropped down, upon my head
Pushed me below the deep wet grey,
Then brought me up, dumped out on deck
My fur messed up in disarray
Two-legs stood all 'round me now,
With clear intent, to me fillet!

Chorus

They picked me up, to my surprise,
And my sleek body, they then did weigh.
They tagged my ear and brought me home,
a research ship from USA!
I had my friends, I had my kelp,
I had my food, hip hip hooray!

And, -clap- Hey, -clap- I'm okay!
'cause I has an abalone!
-clap- -clap- -clap-
And I eats my abalone!
-clap- -clap- -clap-
And eve-ry-thing turned out fine!

Comments

[otherbill.livejournal.com]

They has no abalone, but they has each other:

[guppiecat]

Yeah, I saw that the other day. This, plus a link shared by a FB friend, plus a conversation at Minicon got my brain all ottery, so I had to write the song.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

*makes all manner of happy chittering noises*

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

This is good fun. My dad is an otter lover and will enjoy it too, I think.

[guppiecat]

Good. I was going for fun. :)

[maiac.livejournal.com]

I love this.

Have you heard Gordon Bok's song "Brandy Tree"? It's about an otter, though not a sea otter.

[guppiecat]

I had heard it, but had forgotten about it.

Mine is bouncier though. :)

[maiac.livejournal.com]

Yours is delightful! And it has a happy ending!

YouTube!

[guppiecat]

Well, any otter song has to have a happy ending, really.

And alas, I am no performer, so no YouTube from me. However, some of my friends are, so we'll see if anyone decides to surprise me. :)

[t-giselle.livejournal.com]

That's awesome! Thank you. May it not be the last song you write.

[trishtrash.livejournal.com]

This song is the most awesome thing to be committed to text in recent history.

*wanders off singing 'and I eats my abalone!'

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

*wanders off singing 'and I eats my abalone!'

Enthusiastically!

Well done. It's a very guppiecat sort of song, too. I like that.

I hope to enthusiastically join in the singing and clapping of the chorus at a music party we're both at before too many more years pass. In the meanwhile, please do consider yourself most welcome and encouraged to write more songs (and post them, even....)

[guppiecat]

Neat! I has a style!

(It always interests me how one can generally never determine one's own writing/photography/crafting style, but others pick up on it right away.)

[beki.livejournal.com]

Squeeee!!! :)