Sad songs about whales

The first sad song about whales which comes to the minds of those alive in the sixties, and their children, who were brainwashed and embarrassed by their parents choice of music, may remember Crosby, Stills and Nash singing the beautiful haunting ballad, “To the Last Whale.”

This pre-Animal Liberation Front age ballad gently chides, rather than storms any barricades, hoping to get the message out to the widest possible audience with their beautifully crafted music.

The song’s written from the position of those who were a little detached concerning the whale’s fate, saying, “It’s not that we don’t know, it’s just that we don’t want to care.” This attitude probably did more to radicalize the next generations rage against all machines that killed, and spawned Greenpeace, for example.

“ The Whaler’s Dues,” by Jethro Tull, from their Rock Island album gets far more into the nitty-gritty of the subject, examining what happens to a whaler’s family when he cannot put bread on their table.

There is no attempt to disguise the wrong done to the whales, here, but rather a plea for understanding and leaves listeners with a feeling that that both whalers and whales lose out to the money men in this interaction. The music is powerful rather than wistful, with Ian Anderson making good use of his silver flute’s mournful vioce.

This third song is bang up to date, from The Shaky Hands, called, “Whales Sing,” from the album,” The Skidmore Days.” An upbeat song, after a long intro featuring some very whale-like sounds, it’s only sad in its references to human relationships in terms of the sad story of the whales. The video clip for this song was shot at Hug Point near Arch Cape in Oregon, a prime whale watching tourist area now, but earlier, the home of Native American Indians who legitimately hunted whales for their families needs.