Tuesday, July 18, 2023

“The lower fishbody”

A dead mermaid washes up on the shore of a public beach, and a town responds.

Steven Millhauser, “Mermaid Fever,” in Voices in the Night (2015).

And suddently I’m seeing mermaids (and mermen): in the stylish low-budget movie Night Tide, with Dennis Hopper, in the Route 66 episode “The Cruelest Sea of All,” in the Netflix series Merpeople. And my young granddaughters are all in the grip of mermaid fever. The kids these days.

You can read “Mermaid Fever” at Harper’s.

Thanks, Chris, for recommending Night Tide.

Related reading
All OCA Steven Millhauser posts (Pinboard)

comments: 11

ksh said...

Do you know this song?
https://youtu.be/4lOuPIBCMFw

ksh said...

Or this?
https://youtu.be/8qiRU32WJ9Q

Michael Leddy said...

I somehow know "Minnie the Mermaid," but not the Jim Kweskin song.

Here’s one back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gjb6Vc5_VqE. I played and sang it for a class once — it might have been while reading the Odyssey.

ksh said...

I had forgotten about this John Hurt song. Thank you for the reminder.

Michael Leddy said...

There’s an interesting backstory: https://www.elijahwald.com/songblog/let-mermaids-flirt/.

ksh said...

Wow. Thank you for this.

Michael Leddy said...

Happy to share. I always wondered why it sounded like a Jimmie Rodgers song.

Anonymous said...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983..._(A_Merman_I_Should_Turn_to_Be)

jimi weighs in

Michael Leddy said...

Yes, and then there’s Cream, “Tales of Brave Ulysses,” with “trembling mermaids.”

Chris said...

Last night we were watching a documentary that happened to mention that the House of Luxembourg was said to have derived from a marriage with a mermaid (Melusine).

Michael Leddy said...

My disbelief is suspended and defying gravity. : )