The Newfoundland musical tradition is chock full of songs about the sea, and on this album, the listener will find that at least six of the songs make reference to the sea or are outright sea songs. In addition, both "Concerning Charlie Horse" and "Tickle Cove Pond" deal with horses that have fallen into ponds because the ice was too thin. "The River Driver" is also about the relationship between a man and a body of water.
The songs on The Hard and the Easy range from the sentimental and sweet ("Graceful and Charming") to lighthearted and fun ("The Mermaid"). In fact, it is the latter song from which the image on the cover is taken. One thing that the listener/viewer will take away from the DVD portion of the album is that the band has either a sentimental connection to the songs or simply has so much fun performing them that they wanted to share that joy with everyone. In that, they have succeeded.
Article comments
1 - Glen Boyd
Nice review Anna. Though I think the closest I'd ever get to the sea shanty thing is that old song about the "roly-poly fishheads" I used to hear on Dr. Demento as a kid.
Thar she blows....LOl...!
-Glen
2 - Anna Creech
Thanks, Glen. You should check out some of the songs, "The Mermaid" in particular. I linked to the streaming audio they have available on their site. You might be surprised to discover that they're quite fun.