Video Clip Song: Poseidon’s Warning (song summary)
Travelling through South Australia some years back, Bernie Pickett was captivated at how a coastal town named Streaky Bay had promoted their local tourism, based a world record great white shark that was caught off their shores by a 16 year old boy with a fishing rod in the 1970’s.
There was a long history in the area of fishing for these sharks for world records, and after repeatedly questioning a local barmaid one night about what they used for bait; she finally revealed their story to Bernie at the end of the night.
The fishermen (many of them local farmers), would rope a caught sharks tail, and tow it into shore to drown it, flushing out whatever was in its stomach so that their bait was washed away also. Somehow the bait in this particular shark was lodged in and didn’t wash out.
When they reached the shore and lifted the shark up by its tail with a crane in front of a large crowd to weigh it and take photos, a young seal pup dropped out of its mouth. It was illegal to fish for sharks using seals as bait at that time, and this would have made the world record redundant.
The locals who understood what had happened must have carried on as if this was normal, and something the shark must have already eaten. All has since been hushed up and no one talks about their bait falling out to this day (you can’t fish for these sharks nowadays).
Bernie thought the bait falling out might have been an ironic warning that Poseidon (Greek god of the ocean), might have bestowed on that town.
Lyrics
There’s a freaky Bay in South Australia
Where the farmers took to rolling seas
For a sport that’s not for those faint hearted
To rile Poseidon like Ulysses
And in the pub there hangs the timeless photos
That show the people cram from far and near
Making way for the cameras to show the world
The monster trophies hanging from their pier
Towed in by the tail
Flushed out to unveil
A shark as big as a whale
Paint on the weight and date so there’s no doubt
Always careful not to let their secret out
Hooray Hooray
It was the greatest white the world had seen
One and half a ton on a rod and reel
A second world record claim the freaky bay
And for over 5 hours that reel did squeal
And for Poseidon just a slight annoyance
To lose two creatures for the price of one
He let them leave safely in triumphant glory
Then when they hit the bay he had his fun
Towin’ never fails
To flush out the entrails
Hoist her up by the tail
An awkward silence and a muffled shout
And now nobody recalls the day their secret fell out
Hooray Hooray and up she rises
Hooray Hooray and up she rose
Hooray Hooray and up she rises
Hooray Hooray and up she throws
And in this freaky bay in South Australia
There’s a roadhouse with a great white’s jaw
And a replica of one before her
That once hung proudly from Poseidon’s shore
But now the times have changed, the sharks eat freely
Since they put them on the tourist track
But I could never swim there once I knew their story
And how ever since they’ve tried to push their secret back
Flushed out to unveil
A shark as big as a whale
And no one tells their tale
That awkward silence has hung about
Ever since the day they let the bait fall out
Hooray Hooray and up she rises
Hooray Hooray and up she rose
Hooray Hooray and up she rises
Hooray Hooray and up she throws
Poseidon’s final warning