{{short description|2005 single by the Drones}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}} {{Use Australian English|date=September 2012}} {{Infobox song | name = Shark Fin Blues | cover = Drones-sfb.jpg | alt = | type = single | artist = The Drones | album = Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By | released = 27 March 2005 | recorded = 2005 | studio = | venue = | genre = Punk blues, garage rock | length = 9:14 | label = ATP<br />In-Fidelity | writer = Gareth Liddiard, Rui Pereira | producer = | prev_title = Bird in a Church | prev_year = 2002 | next_title = Jezebel | next_year = 2006 }}
"'''Shark Fin Blues'''" is a double A-side single taken from Australian rockers the Drones' second studio album, ''Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By'' (April 2005). The single was released on 25 September 2006. It also appeared as a limited edition, 7" picture disc, together with the band's fourth album, ''Gala Mill'' (September 2006).
The band's most popular song, "Shark Fin Blues" - "an anthem of sorts for the disenfranchised and melancholic" written after the passing of lead singer Gareth Liddiard's mother - was voted the greatest Australian song of all time by the band's contemporaries in 2009 and is now widely considered to be a classic.<ref name=smh/><ref name=sm1/><ref name="auto"/>
==Composition==
The song starts off "hazy" and "distorted" over "restrained drumming" and gradually builds up, "expanding and filling with screeching guitars and a contagious chorus of "na na na’s"". The instrumentation on this track has been described as "jarring" while Liddiard's vocals have been described as "brutal".<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/dec/29/shark-fin-blues-by-the-drones-australian-anthem|title=Shark Fin Blues by the Drones – a brutally honest account of depression|first=Denham|last=Sadler|date=29 December 2014|via=theguardian.com}}</ref> Liddiard describes the intro as a "fudged Townes Van Zandt riff" whilst the outro was improvised by Rui Pereira.<ref name="genius.com">{{cite web|url=https://genius.com/The-drones-shark-fin-blues-lyrics|title=The Drones – Shark Fin Blues|via=genius.com}}</ref>
The song, whose lyrics were written over "Same Old Man" by Karen Dalton, was composed after the passing of Liddiard's mother<ref name=sm1>{{cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/the-drones-still-powerful-and-still-flying-20150826-gj7189.html|title=The Drones still powerful and still flying|first=Michael|last=Dwyer|date=27 August 2015|website=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref><ref name="auto"/> and has been described as "an anthem of sorts for the disenfranchised and melancholic".<ref name="auto"/> The allegorical lyrics contain biblical and maritime imagery and has been compared to ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'',<ref name="pitchfork.com">{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/2627-wait-long-by-the-river-and-the-bodies-of-your-enemies-will-float-by/|title=The Drones: Wait Long By the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By|website=Pitchfork}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://cokemachineglow.com/records/drones-waitlongbytheriver-2005/|title=The Drones: Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By - Records|website=Cokemachineglow}}</ref> its protagonist describing the sinking of his ship as the titular "sharks" surround him "fin by fin".<ref name="genius.com"/>
==Reception== ===Critical=== The song was originally received favorably, with Brandon Stosuy of ''Pitchfork'' calling it "one of the best rockers of the year, a seemingly endless path of riffs and dynamics and a good introduction to Liddiard's nihilistic subject matter".<ref name="pitchfork.com"/> Mike Diver of ''Drowned in Sound'' was more mixed in his assessment, calling it "a decent composition executed decently, but far from the original blast of frazzled blues it wishes to be", comparing it unfavorably to the band's live performances.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://drownedinsound.com/releases/7188/reviews/709712-|title=Single Review: The Drones - Shark Fin Blues / You Really Don't Care|website=Drowned in Sound|access-date=2 July 2018|archive-date=2 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702122417/http://drownedinsound.com/releases/7188/reviews/709712-|url-status=dead}}</ref>
===Legacy=== {{quote box | quote = "It felt like an anthem to the kind of people that need one more than anyone else, [...] The kind that can’t pull themselves out from that murky, lonely sludge that lives in their head, my head." | source = Rachael Dease of Schvendes on "Shark Fin Blues"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.broadsheet.com.au/perth/entertainment/article/moment-time|title=A Moment in Time|website=Broadsheet.com.au|access-date=7 June 2021}}</ref> | width = 250px | salign = right }} In a poll of contemporary Australian songwriters in 2009, organised by national youth broadcaster Triple J, "Shark Fin Blues" was voted as the greatest Australian song of all time.<ref>{{cite news|last=Donovan|first=Patrick|work=The Age|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/music/drones-shark-fin-blues-tops-rock-list/2009/10/29/1256405474001.html|title=Drones' Shark Fin Blues tops rock list|date=30 October 2009|access-date=2 November 2009}}</ref><ref name="auto"/><ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2015/10/track-of-the...shark-fin-blues/412312/] {{dead link|date=June 2021}}</ref> On being asked about the ranking the following year by Andrew McMillen, Liddiard expressed ambivalence, speculating that many of those voting may have been "5-6 years younger" than the band members themselves. In the same interview, he also states that he is "sick to fuckin' death of" playing the song live, despite conceding that "[t]here’s nothing you can do about that, really. I’m always saying, "Let’s fuck 'Shark Fin' off, we don’t have to do it!”, but it’s the band who probably want to hear it more than anyone else. I don’t know why."<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Vine interview: Gareth Liddiard of The Drones, April 2010|url=http://andrewmcmillen.com/2010/04/14/the-vine-interview-gareth-liddiard-of-the-drones/|access-date=2020-11-15|website=Andrew McMillen|language=en-US}}</ref>
In 2014, Denham Sadler of ''The Guardian'' wrote that "part of the song’s power is that Liddiard refuses to provide the listener a throwaway silver lining [...] instead it is a raw and brutally honest account of depression [...] a song that unflinchingly bares its writer’s despair, detailed in an intimate, introspective way."<ref name="auto" /> The following year, ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' observed that the song is "considered by many to be an Australian classic."<ref name=smh>{{Cite web|last=Mihelakos|first=Mary|date=2015-06-25|title=Sticky Carpet: The Drones, Ben Salter, Presentation Night, Save Our Seat and Jim Keays|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/sticky-carpet-the-drones-ben-salter-presentation-night-save-our-seat-and-jim-keays-20150625-ghwwgr.html|access-date=2020-11-15|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|language=en}}</ref> In November 2020, ''Junkee'' ranked the song 5th on their list of "The 200 Greatest Australian Songs of All Time" - a list that partially takes into account submissions from other Australian musicians.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The 200 Greatest Australian Songs of All Time, Part Two|url=https://junkee.com/longform/greatest-australian-songs-part-two|access-date=2020-11-15|website=Junkee|language=en-US}}</ref>
==Track listing== # "Shark Fin Blues" - 4:34 # "You Really Don't Care" - 4:40
==Missy Higgins version== {{Infobox song | name = Shark Fin Blues | cover = | alt = | type = single | artist = Missy Higgins | album = Oz | released = 7 July 2014 | recorded = | studio = | venue = | genre = pop | length = 5:16 | label = Eleven | writer = Gareth Liddiard, Rui Pereira | producer = | prev_title = We Ride | prev_year = 2013 | next_title = Oh Canada | next_year = 2016 }}
On 7 July 2014, Australian artist Missy Higgins released "Shark Fin Blues" as the first single from her fourth studio album, ''Oz'' (September 2014). It debuted at number No. 71 on the ARIA Singles Chart on the week commencing 18 August.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://auspop.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/the-aria-singles-chart-well-thats-still.html|title=The Aria Singles Chart Well That's Still|publisher=AuspOp|date=16 August 2014|access-date=18 August 2014}}</ref>
The video clip was released via YouTube on 11 August.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaN4vma0n0A |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/RaN4vma0n0A |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Shark Fin Blues by Missy Higgins|publisher=You Tube|date=11 August 2015|access-date=27 April 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
===Reception=== In an album review, Helena Ho from ''Renowned for Sound'' said the song "begins with simple piano chords so that the bare beauty of Higgins' vocals are highlighted. She sings with such passion and emotion, you can hear her voice tremble with it. It's liberating when the strings and piano eventually swell together for the final hook."<ref name="RFS">{{cite web|url=http://renownedforsound.com/index.php/album-review-missy-higgins-oz/|title= ALBUM REVIEW: MISSY HIGGINS – OZ|publisher=Renowned for Sound|date=27 September 2014 |access-date=28 April 2018}}</ref>
Ali Birnie from Beat Magazine said the song is the album highlight.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.beat.com.au/music/missy-higgins-oz|title=Missy Higgins : Oz|publisher=Beat Magazine|date=September 2014|access-date=27 April 2018|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402210418/http://beat.com.au/music/missy-higgins-oz|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{The Drones (Australian band)}} {{Missy Higgins}}
Category:2005 singles Category:2014 singles Category:The Drones (Australian band) songs Category:2005 songs