The only reason is just because.
I really wanted to find room for Half Man Half Biscuit's 'National Shite Day' which features a guest appearance from a dead wading bird, parcelled up and posted to the "rubber-faced irritant Phil Cool / With a note inside which read(s): 'Is this your Sanderling?'". I have no idea what the story is behind that gag, but it always makes me smile.
Anyway...
10. Bad Company - Seagull
Here is a man asking the question
Is this really the end of the world?
Seagull, you must have known for a long time
The shape of things to come.
Chris Packham tells me there's no such thing as "seagulls". There's just different types of gulls, many of which live by the sea. So there.
9. A Flock Of Seagulls - Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)
Unfairly remembered more for their ridiculous haircuts than their music, this band actually took their name from a lyric in the song Toiler On The Sea by The Stranglers.
8. Engelburt Humperdinck - Lesbian Seagull
If you've never heard this before, you probably think I'm making it up. Written by Tom Wilson Weinberg "in response to a government study of long term monogamous lesbian behaviour in seagulls" (thank you, wikipedia, please don't close down for good). The Engelburt version was recorded for the end credits of the movie Beavis & Butthead Do America. It's all true, I swear!
7. British Sea Power - The Great Skua
Seabirds often seem to inspire instrumentals, and this is a wonderfully atmospheric one from BSP about a bird that's also known as The Bonxie.
6. Ooberman - Goodbye, Gadfly
Another evocative and romantic song from the mighty Ooberman, a band no longer with us, but whose entire back catalogue (including this track) can be downloaded free from their website at the link above. Well worth your download allowance.
5. The Shins - New Slang
No, Slang isn't a seabird. Neither are Shins. However, the chorus goes like this...
And if you took to me like
A gull takes to the wind.
Well, I'd 'a jumped from my tree
And I'd a danced like the kind of the eyesores
And the rest of our lives would 'a fared well
4. Guillemots - Redwings
No, Redwings aren't seabirds either. Guillemots are though - and Guillemots are cool. Not quite as cool as Penguins or Puffins, but I couldn't find a song about either of those. Sadly.
3. Rialto - Summer's Over
Kamikaze seagull planes
Fighting over chip-shop take-away remains
And when you’re walking on the cliff
You can’t help thinking of how far down the sea is
And what if they should give...
My favourite seaside song that isn't Everyday Is Like Sunday, and this one has a kamikaze seagull too!
2. Fleetwood Mac - Albatross
Undoubtedly the most famous seabird instrumental, spoiled slightly by its ubiquitous use in TV holiday show soundtracks, it's still one of the most relaxing records ever recorded.
1. The Maccabees - Pelican
A new entry at the top of the chart, this earworm from the Maccabees has been circling my harbour incessantly for the last few weeks. I have no idea why it's called Pelican... and I'm not sure I want to know.
