Life at sea is not easy. There’s wet shoes, nausea, and death.
Dumpster Company worries about the dark, buoyancy, and cold when it’s “Christmas on a Boat.” This ’60s jazz band easy listening is a hoot and then some. Poor guys.
And then there’s seasickness: North Pole Fisherman’s Association treads water with “Check Below the Deck for Rollie.” To the tune of ‘Deck the Halls.’ Barf. (If you’re biting the whole parody album is available: A Fisherman’s Christmas Carols. It fills a niche.
Sting tackles classic poetry with “Christmas at Sea,” a regretful adventure into cold and covetousness. But the Celtic singers add an ethereal weirdness.
This same Robert Louis Stevenson poem, “Christmas at Sea,” receives a good turn from Neil Adam & Judy Turner. Sad strings, brave vocals, classically influence folk… this tough time is an enjoyable song. [For comparison, Rob Winder recites this bit with tragic musicality.]
Combining both of those approaches, The Longest Johns a cappella their “Christmas at Sea” like an oral tradition you’d best heed. Lessons here.