Day 18: Baby Shark, I Love You

Lyrics:

Just a little baby boy
You know that he was born swimmin'
When he makes it to the beach
You know he's gonna make a killin'

You know he's got a long tale to tell
And he's got them big eyes
If you think that he's cute
Then, sweetie, you'll never survive 

Oh, baby shark
Oh, baby shark
Oh, baby shark
I think I love you

Some people call him Gill
And others call him Finn
Don't let him catch you sleepin'
'Cause it's sink or it's swim

Oh, baby shark
Oh, baby shark
Oh, baby shark
I think I love you

I love you
Sea green
Ocean blue
I can smell you comin'
Even though you're cold blooded
Gonna kiss ya and hug ya
And show you a home

Come on and listen to my warning
Because I think you're in peril
When he shows you his teeth
He won't stop at just a nibble

Oh, baby shark
Oh, baby shark
Oh, baby shark
I think I love you

Details: So, two beach songs in a row, and three water songs in a row-- you'd think it was intentional. But it's not; today's song was inspired by some beach party movies I saw early this morning when I couldn't sleep. Beach party films are generally pretty bad, but the musical numbers make up for it! So I wanted to write a beach party song; at the same time, I wanted to try my hand at surf guitar (I love Dick Dale!).

The guitar riff came first, building around that slide down the neck and adding a 60s groove chord strumming. It's not polished, but I'm kind of proud of the guitar arrangment; three years ago, I couldn't have imagined playing something like it.

I can't remember how I came up with the baby shark idea. But when I Googled "Baby Shark" (to see if there was any useful tidbits on the Wikipedia page), it turns out that there's a very popular kid song by that name (an amazingly obnoxious one, at that!). So even though I wanted the title to be "Baby Shark", I decided it would be cleaner to call it "Baby Shark, I Love You".

A note on the vocals: I imagine the verses being sung by a different voice than the chorus and bridge. The verses are all warnings that the baby shark is dangerous; the chorus and bridge is all about falling in love with the baby shark, anyway. So this'll be better as an ensemble piece.

It took about 3 hours to write and an hour to record.