Harbour Shark

 

You So High And Mighty --
You So High And Mighty --
You So High And Mighty --


You Run, Run, Run
And You Tumble Down
You Run, Run, Run
And You Tumble Down
You Run, Run, Run
And You Tumble Down!


HARBOUR SHARK!


Try Your Best, Nevertheless --
All The Good You Get --
Could Be Following You --
And You Know That It’s True!


HARBOUR SHARK!
 

(Grabbing For Yourself and Yourself Alone
Grabbing For Yourself and Yourself Alone)


HARBOUR SHARK!

 

 

 

NOTE:  




I don’trecall exactly when I first heard the Wailing Souls’ song Harbour Shark, but itwas a long time ago and I’ve carried it around in my head as a touchstone eversince.


The record was first released by theWailers’ Tuff Gong label in Kingston in 1971 under the artist name Pipe and thePipers, which was an early styling of this great four-man harmony group led byWinston “Pipe” Matthews and Lloyd “Bread” McDonald.  As is well-known, the Wailing Souls and theWailers (formerly the Wailing Wailers) were taught the rudiments and finepoints of harmony singing in the same Trenchtown kitchen by the great Joe (“There’sA Reward”) Higgs.


In Jamaican parlance, a “harbour shark” is a greedy,rapacious person or, as one Yahoo Answers correspondent put it so well:  “a want all, the type ofperson who would want half of the cake, if it should be shared between five,quite similar to most politicians, trust me.” 


The Wailing Souls re-cut this song a fewyears later in a slower version, which is also excellent, but I prefer thisone.  The group’s catalogue is astonishingin quality and range.  A good (ifslightly chronologically/stylistically late) starting place to “nyam down”(i.e., “eat greedily” ) Wailing Souls music for those interested would be theChannel One “Best of the Wailing Souls” collection of mostly rockers-stylematerial.


The harbour sharks pictured here doingtheir scary thing are bull sharks photographed in Sydney Harbour, Australia, alocation that has had more than its fair share of shark attacks.


This song is so resonant, memorable andtouching.  Melodies and rhythms maychange, evolve, alternate, but Harbour Shark will always be relevant.

Music Link:


HarbourShark -- The Wailing Souls (1971)