NZ FOLK SONG * Spider In The Bath

NEW ZEALAND *FO LK SONG**	Spider in the Bath © Marcus Turner 1980

Is this a children's song, or does it express how each adult honestly feels, alone and trapped in blank, impersonal world? Perhaps that is what makes it such a good children's song.


Am   E Am
Here I am - is anyone about?
           Dm       Am                     E   Am   E
I'm down beside the plug-hole and I  can't get out, and
Am   E    Am
I've been here an hour and a half.
       Dm     Am                   E      Am
Can't anybody help a little spider in the bath?

  C                             F             C
I woke up feeling hungry in the middle of the night.
  F             C                     Dm           E
I saw a moth go by and thought "there goes a tasty bite".
  F                C           Dm       G      C
I chased it up the mirror and along the window-sill,
 F                C                    Dm                 E
Around behind the toothpaste tube- and then I tripped and fell, and...
Here I am ...

The sides are steep and slippery 'cause the bath has just been cleaned,
And everything is cold and wet and Avocado Green.
There's a long lumpy Loofah, some pumice in a dish,
And all I have to talk to is this purple plastic fish, and...
Here I am ...

There's no need to be scared, 'cause I won't do you any harm.
Just take me to the garden where it's nice and safe and warm,
Then put me down real gently and I'll run back home to Mother,
One leg after the other after the other after the other after the
other...
   ....after the other after the other after the other!! And...
Here I am ...

Can't anybody help a little spider in the bath?

Play this 2 K Midi tune.

Nature note

Marcus has kindly sent this explanation:

"Many hunting spiders can climb smooth walls and window glass. They have special hairs at the ends of their legs that help them walk on slick surfaces. Not all spiders have these special hairs. That is why you sometimes find a spider stuck in your bathtub".
FULL DETAILS

The Ballad Writers' Toolbox

Switching He and I

This song gains much of its power by making you experience the wee beastie's plight. Try singing this song in the third person.
"There it is, wandering about, It's down beside the plughole and it can't get out etc"

Notice the loss when you are merely a sympathetic observer.

You might make your own songs more effective by switching "he, she, it" to "I, me."

Conversely, when you have written a song about yourself, you may get a more effective song by changing "me, I, my" to "he, his, Tony Jones" etc

Spider On Record

Marcus Turner, Laid Down CD 2004

Marcus Turner On Record

Civil Servant, EMI.
The Best is Yet to Come, Cityfolk, LP, 1983.
Live in the Club, The Chaps, cass, 1993.
Laid Down CD 2004

Other Marcus Turner songs worth learning

Lady Aranea -a beautiful spider song

The Civil Service Song - a bygone era of feather-bedding

As Far As I Can Go - excruciatingly funny portrait of depression, exhaustingly difficult to do.

The Best Is Yet To Come - it's not supposed to be a love song.