Story Behind The Song
I had half-written this song a year and a half ago, while I was thinking about the original plot ending to Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" where the title character decides not to save herself by killing the prince after he marries another, then she's rewarded with something better than being some Dutch fellow's wife. Couldn't really find a direction for it and languished in my file for a while. Recently I listened to Ruth B.'s "Lost Boys" as a reference track for a listing I was submitting to, and it inspired me to finish the song.
Song Description
Slow, piano-based ballad using imagery from Hans Christian Andersen's "Little Mermaid" story as an allegory for moving on from a relationship of one kind or another.
| Song Length |
4:39 |
Genre |
Pop - Lullaby, Rock - Easy Listening |
| Tempo |
Slow (71 - 90) |
Lead Vocal |
Male Vocal |
| Mood |
Serene, Moving |
Subject |
Hope, Unrequited Love |
| Similar Artists |
Ruth B., Paramore |
Language |
English |
| Era |
2000 and later |
| |
Lyrics
"Mermaid" © 2016 Capers Simmons (ASCAP)
VERSE I
She is staring at the shore,
At the parents and the children.
She has seen them there before,
But she has never joined them.
Just to try it, just to taste
How it feels to have a soul,
Just to join the human race--
She has to know
PRECHORUS
She traded all her words for legs and feet
That danced on broken glass to meet
The only man she'd ever loved.
She let him go, and she laid down to die,
But someone saw the sacrifice
And she was given one more life to lead.
CHORUS
Mermaid--little did you know, so little you did you fear.
No pain--this is letting go a little every year
Mermaid--little in his eyes, brittle in his hands--
You'll break bigger than the lies, the sea-spray, and the sand.
BRIDGE
Forsake your own race to dance on knives.
For your sake, find grace there in the skies.
VERSE II
She is sailing by the shore,
Now the night has fallen.
She is someplace where it's warm,
Somewhere far from Holland.
Children warm in mothers' arms
She's the breeze upon them
When she smiles, she's smiled upon
And there is freedom
PRECHORUS
She traded all her pain for wings
And lighted out upon the winds
To find herself a new way home.
So let her go, I know that she'll be fine
'Cause all she has to do is smile
And that is why she'll never be alone.
~ CHORUS ~