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Mermaid Smiled Lyrics
From pools of xylophone clear
From caves of memory
I saw the children at heart
That we once used to be
Borne on foaming seahorse herd
Compose with trumpeting shell
From lines across their hands
A song as new as new moon
As old as all the sands
Shrank to stagnant from Atlantic wild
Lost that child 'til mermaid
Smiled
Summoned by drum rolling surf
As laughing fish compel
The young boy woken in me
By clanging diving bell
Breakers pillow fight the shore
She wriggles free in the tide
I'm locked in adult land
Back in the mirror she slides
Waving with comb in hand
I was lucky to remain beguiled
Grown to child since mermaid
Smiled
From caves of memory
I saw the children at heart
That we once used to be
Borne on foaming seahorse herd
Compose with trumpeting shell
From lines across their hands
A song as new as new moon
As old as all the sands
Shrank to stagnant from Atlantic wild
Lost that child 'til mermaid
Smiled
As laughing fish compel
The young boy woken in me
By clanging diving bell
Breakers pillow fight the shore
She wriggles free in the tide
I'm locked in adult land
Back in the mirror she slides
Waving with comb in hand
I was lucky to remain beguiled
Grown to child since mermaid
Smiled
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This is an absolutely beautiful song, but I have to admit (apart from the lovely imagery) I don't really understand what this song is meant to be about. Maybe it's just about the 'soul' of this song that is the real point, and I definately feel this apect of it whenever I listen to it, and immerse myself in the aesthetics of the words.
Anyone else have any real ideas? LOL
For me, this is the colorful imagery from my childhood that returns to me when I visit a place familiar to that time. So, say I go to a beach that I spent a lot of time at as a child, this song may be somewhat close to the feeling that I experience. Obviously, this isn't the meaning of the song for everyone, but it fits me pretty well in this sense.
Hey yeah, you're not far off the original intention: I recently read - in the Fuzzy Warbles' Volume 5 booklet - something about Partridge saying this song is about 'lost childhood innocence', and I think it is also about the boundless scope of a child's imagination, with the imagery of the sea acting as the muse that connects the old (child's) mind with the new.
I love this song even more, now :¬)