Dan Hewins: The Deck 52 songs in 52 weeks: A Deck of Songs in 2009 by Dan Hewins. A song-per-week project.

The Four of spades is my first foray into the wetter side of life.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be a fish in the sea? To swim around willy-nilly. Join a school and zip around with your friends. It would be fun to explore the depths and see all the pretty things that oceanic life has to offer. Swimming to any point in the wet earth might just be possible. Time wouldn’t be an issue. What does a fish have to do all day except for eating smaller marine life and avoiding the jaws of the larger? Have mass amounts of fun, is what!

Or what about a crustacean? The insects of the sea. Swimming backwards might not be so bad and maybe kinda fun. And some have the added bonus of having claws. What I could do with a pair of claws! Nuts would not be a problem anymore; I wouldn’t need that ballet-related Christmas ornament if I had claws. How exciting to not have internal bones! Oh, to be a mass of slime contained by a shell. Barnacles can go anywhere a ship takes them and they don’t even have to expend the energy to get there. A leisurely life, indeed.

Squids and Octopi? Not too bad either. So many tendrils! The mystery! The ink! Escape under a cloud of darkness and confusion. Cram into that little nook, this cranny. How easy it would be to hide and be safe. And the lucky ones get to grow to immense proportion and have show-downs with the masters of the sea: whales!

Shellfish. I admit that is not as exciting. How to mobilize? Can they even vote? Are there elections in the sea? If not, maybe a clam or scallop could organize the first. That would be a good way to make a name for oneself.

Just listen to the song.