FOP SYMPOSIUM 2005: REVIEW #9

Jellyfish is sadly absent from blogging for a time until such time as she has reliable internet access again. But she has proved herself to be an ideal candidate for participating in a blog-and-Lizjournal community review-off of "Help, I'm a Fish! (I'm a Little Yellow Fish)" by The Little Trees. Not only is Jellyfish, at least nomenclature-wise, a sea creature herself, and therefore able to bring a uniquely localised perspective to the particularly marine-themed issues that this "work" throws into high relief - but she also embraces our system of rating things out of tiny little Gretel Killeens! And she liked our chosen song! AND FINALLY SOMEONE HAS APPRECIATED ITS CHEERINESS! We should have put this up an age ago, we are sorry! (What ON EARTH, are you bellowing. Hop over here for an explanation.)

REVIEW BY JELLYFISH

It was with some trepidation that I approached the task of reviewing a piece of music which has not to my knowledge been featured in a musical OR recorded prior to 1989. However, the good Mr Fop was kind enough to ask me for my opinion so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

And what a whirl it was! 3 and a half minutes of glorious, throbbing house beats and wistful, ocean-themed lyrics!

Despite the cheery chorus, with its moving and triumphant-sounding chords (similar to those used in many a showtunes opening number, I was pleased to note), 'Help! I'm A Little Fish!' is clearly a cry for assistance and understanding from a small soul hopelessly adrift in the wide ocean of life. Something tells me that English might not, in fact, be the first language of these chirping melody makers, which makes the catchy poignancy of the lyrics even more commendable. Even the hardest heart would be moved by the repeated refrain of 'I'm a little yellow fish, in the deep blue sea. Won't somebody help me?'

Consider the predicament of this diminutive scaly creature. 'It wasn't such a big commotion, all it took was magic potion.' You have a drink and, before you know it, you've turned into something quite unrecognisable - who among us can honestly say they have not been through similar? In fact, to the guy in the stripey shirt at whom I kept screaming 'Can you salsa dance? Can you? Why wont you salsa dance with me, ass!' at 1am on Sunday morning - it was the magic potion talking, I swear.

Furthermore, the bridge reveals that this song is also a cautionary tale for other would-be Nemo's. 'Stay ashore, don't give in to notions - if you don't wanna be like me!' You heard the nice ladies- lay off the 'potions' or be consigned to a lifetime of 'stupid sharks' and 'whale buses.' Or something. I love a tiny moral moment with my eurobeats.

In conclusion, I must say that I can think of far worse ways to spend a few minutes of my time, and I would take another dose of the Trees any day. Four Gretels! Are they eligible to enter Eurovision? Presuming they still exist - I tried Googling them for research and found almost nothing at all. My computer won't play songs backwards, but if it did, perhaps we'd discover a subliminal message from the girls? 'Help - I'm chained to a microphone somewhere in Estonia - won't somebody save me?'