One day, got the notion, in the ocean
one day, thought that he would learn to swim;
That day, must admit he was a fool,
that day, went straight to the swimming pool.
Signed up, took a class down at the YMCA,
with families, children and their mothers,
fathers, reclining in the hot tubs and the saunas,
There he was among them, a pink unicorn…

Day 1, shocked to see him, everybody,

Day 2, they all see him screw up,
Day 3, gangster in class, tattooed ass,
Day 4, they go out and drink it up,
But Day 5, he looks up and he sees the lifeguard dive,
her movements, smooth like roiling clouds,
In lane 5, she makes her way from one end to the other,
He wants to talk to her but just then does not dare…

Days go by and as he tries to practice
He finds he cannot turn his eyes away.
To Lane 5, again he looks to see the lifeguard dive,
her movements, smooth like spilling milk,
In lane 5, she makes her way from one end to the other,
He turns with a laugh, realizes that he’s sinking down into the deep end…
the deep end… the deep end… the deep end…

notes

This song is something I wrote up for my band, because we needed new songs to work on. It’s loosely based on my experience as a foreigner learning to swim at a Korean YMCA, though the bit about the main character falling into unrequited love with the lifeguard is purely for fun. It’s a fun song and we are enjoying working it up.