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’t recall exactly when I first heard the Wailing Souls’ song Harbour Shark, but it was a long time ago and I’ve carried it around in my head as a touchstone ever since.


The record was first released by the Wailers’ Tuff Gong label in Kingston in 1971 under the artist name Pipe and the Pipers, which was an early styling of this great four-man harmony group led by Winston “Pipe” Matthews and Lloyd “Bread” McDonald.  As is well-known, the Wailing Souls and the Wailers (formerly the Wailing Wailers) were taught the rudiments and fine points of harmony singing in the same Trenchtown kitchen by the great Joe (“There’s A 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 of person 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 few years later in a slower version, which is also excellent, but I prefer this one.  The group’s catalogue is astonishing in quality and range.  A good (if slightly chronologically/stylistically late) starting place to “nyam down” (i.e., “eat greedily” ) Wailing Souls music for those interested would be the Channel One “Best of the Wailing Souls” collection of mostly rockers-style material.


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


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

Music Link:


Harbour Shark -- The Wailing Souls (1971)