Friday music: my favourite free-jazz modern sea shanty

I'm thinking I'm going to make my music post a Friday feature. I know lots of people aren't crazy about videos/ music in blogs but - as regular readers may have gathered - I love blogging about it. And actually, unlike the romance blogging, I don't crave any feedback. These posts are kind of just for me.

So, my very favourite free-jazz modern sea shanty? Well, it's a difficult call, but I've got to say, Sea Song by Robert Wyatt. There are some really great versions of this, but I'm embedding the Tears for Fears version because it's a bit more accessible than the original from Wyatt's Rock Bottom album which has a lengthy bit of free jazz at the end - though I prefer it. I'd also highly recommend the version by Rachel Unthank & the Winterset.

The words are gorgeous:

You look different every time you come
From the foam-crested brine,
Your skin shining softly in the moonlight.
Partly fish, partly porpoise, partly baby sperm whale,
Am I yours? Are you mine to play with?
Joking apart - when you're drunk, you're terrific when you're drunk
I like you mostly late at night - you're quite alright.
But I can't understand the different you in the morning
When it's time to play at being human for a while. Please smile.
You'll be different in the spring, I know,
You're a seasonal beast, like the starfish that drift in with the tide, with the tide.
So until your blood runs to meet the next full moon,
Your madness fits in nicely with my own.
Your lunacy fits neatly with my own, my very own.
We're not alone.

Apologies for the gratuitous 80s slide show.