Lyrics: Human form she had In crescent city She showed me her pity Lucky me
In a storm so bad The worst of the autumn She came from the bottom Of the sea
Please won't you stay a while And give your coat Then we'll fall in love in my boat You'll be my selkie bride
Please give me no denial A promise I give I'll forsake the life that I live Now you're by my side
If you return again I'll be the saddest man My lips will burn your skin If you return again Please don't return again Please don't return again Please don't return again
Human form she had In crescent city She showed me her pity Lucky me
On that day so sad Breezy and sunny She melted like honey In the sea
Quotes: "I've been trying to record it for years, tweaking the lyrics and doing whatever I could to make it feel right. Then at some point I read some of the words to my therapist, and she pointed out that they actually applied to events and people in my own life. It was only when I viewed the song from a more personal perspective that it made sense to me and I was able to finish it." - Frank on recording Honeycomb - Night Times. 12/06/2005
"Even Selkie Bride which was a song about the mythical creature. I started writing it a few years ago and it wasn't a personal song. I was never quite happy with it and I brought it up to my therapist, read the lyric to her, and she said, 'Well, OK, here's what's going on...you know who the Selkie Bride is, don't you?' And then she said, 'Now that you realise who the song is about, I think you can finish it.' And she was right! - Frank Black interview - Comes With A Smile. Autumn 2005
Definitions and References: Selkie (n.) - Courtesy Wikipedia Mythological creatures in Irish and Scottish folklore that can transform themselves from seals to humans. The legend apparently originated in the Orkney Islands, where "selkie" is simply the Orcadian word for "seal".
Selkies are able to become humans by shedding their seal skins, and can revert to seal form by putting the skins back on. Stories concerning selkies are generally romantic tragedies. A human and a selkie fall in love, but after a while the selkie becomes restless, and decides to return to the sea. Sometimes the human will not know that their lover is a selkie, and wakes to find them gone. Other times the human will hide the selkie's skin, thus preventing them from returning to seal form.
Further links about the legend of the Selkie can be found here.
