Shamu

Story Behind The Song

I wrote this based on a photograph I found on Google Image Search when I looked up "dissonance". The airplane/Shamu came up under "cognitive dissonance."

Song Description

This song is sung to an airplane painted to look like the performing orca ("killer whale") Shamu, as if the airplane were actually an orca trapped in the body of an airplane. The singer empathizes and identifies with Shamu, forced to put on an act and li

Song Length 3:52 Genre R & B - Soul, Folk - Contemporary
Tempo Medium Slow (91 - 110) Lead Vocal Female Vocal
Mood Poignant, Quiet Subject General, Ocean, Sea
Similar Artists Kate Bush, Tracy Chapman Language English
Era 2000 and later

Lyrics

What are you doing out on the runway
Gleaming black in the sun
You taxi slowly, as if underwater
Dreading the job to be done
Jonahs dabbed with ambergris
Tap their shoes impatiently
And you spin, and you spin, trying to rise

Shamu, I too feel like a fish out of water
Shamu, Shamu, we are aliens
Shamu, Shamu, I feel for you
But what can we do?

Communication should happen in murmurs
Not all this high-pitched chatter
There are too many words
And not enough that matter
But you were in the biz so long
You know the damn show must go on
And you spin, and you spin, trying to rise

Shamu, I too feel like a fish out of water
Shamu, Shamu, we are aliens
Shamu, Shamu, I feel for you
But what can we do?

Sweat and tears are underrated
Salt is all that we crave
We splash, we are elated
Riding wave after wave after wave
Now you must set all that aside
Go ride the waves up in the sky
And you spin, and you spin
Trying to rise

Shamu, I too feel like a fish out of water
Shamu, Shamu, we are aliens
Shamu, Shamu, I feel for you
But what can we do?
But what can we do?
But what can we do?

Lyrics Nancy Rost Music Nancy Rost
Performance Nancy Rost
This track is on 1 Member Playlists
Playlist Creator Playlist Name Date Added
clarez My Top Songs 9/10/2007

Other Songs By Nancy Rost

Song
Actions
Neighbors
Folk - Contemporary
Plays: 8
Golden Gate
Folk - Alternative
Plays: 98
Welcome To Boscobel
Folk - Contemporary
Plays: 65
The Butler Did It
Jazz - General
Plays: 17
The Path
Pop - Easy Listening
Plays: 18
American Gothic
Unique - General
Plays: 22
The Abridged New Glarus Telephone Book Polka
Unique - Polka
Plays: 28
I Fell Into a Giant Brain
Jazz - General
Plays: 3
Another Song
Rock - General
Plays: 4
Love with an Asterisk
Jazz - Lounge
Plays: 23
View All Songs
Clean Clean

Clean Clean

Artist Name
00:00 / 00:00