We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Fisherman's Daughter

from Shapeshifter by Violet Bell

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

Jung said, “There is no greater burden on a child than the unlived life of a parent.” The selkie has to choose between staying on land to die, or leaving her daughter behind to return to the sea. When she puts on her skin and goes back to the sea, the selkie breaks the cycle of maternal martyrdom and gives her daughter permission to live fully.

Most people who are born in the village die in the village, repeating the same roles their ancestors played. The fisherman’s daughter breaks the cycle and becomes a traveling storyteller. She is sovereign in herself, and she uses her songs and stories to share that medicine with the world. While her mother was captured in a moment of innocent revelry, the fisherman’s daughter can revel and not be caught; she has learned the ways of the land-bound world and not forgotten the ways of the sea.

At the heart of the selkie story is the hope that, while our skin may be stolen, we can recover it, and we can learn how to stay free.

lyrics

From the first time that I saw her,
I fell in love with the fisherman’s daughter
I fell in love with the fisherman’s daughter

moves like wind,
laughs like water
mind just like a wild nor’easter
a wild nor’easter

Saw her on the way to town,
Hair pulled back and her shoulders down
Heavy with her father’s wares
Selling down in market square

Got no coin, got no copper,
Give my days to the fisherman’s daughter
Work my hands for the fisherman’s daughter

All I have is all I offer
Make my heart your holy altar
your holy altar

Saw her standing by the sea
Black hair flowing long and free
Singing some strange melody
I saw her but she didn’t see me

Love is strong but the sea is stronger
Some hearts were made to wander
made to wander

From the first time that I saw her
I fell in love with the fisherman’s daughter
I fell in love with the fisherman’s daughter

credits

from Shapeshifter, track released June 24, 2022
Lizzy Ross - lead vocals
Omar Ruiz-Lopez - fiddle,
Joe Troop - banjo
Tatiana Hargreaves - 5-string fiddle
Joseph Terrell - acoustic guitar, vocal harmonies
Libby Rodenbough - vocal harmonies
Sinclair Palmer - upright bass
Austin McCall - percussion
SOUND ENGINEER: Jason Richmond
MIXING ENGINEER: Jason Richmond
MASTERING ENGINEER: Jason Richmond
PRODUCER: Jason Richmond, Lizzy Ross, Omar Ruiz-Lopez

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Violet Bell image

Violet Bell Chapel Hill, North Carolina

✨harmony + folklore + queer + de-homogenizing the americana roots music narrative ✨ Our new album Shapeshifter is out 10/7/22. It tells the ancient story of the selkie, a seal who can take off her skin to become human, as medicine for social norms that would keep us small. ... more

contact / help

Contact Violet Bell

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Violet Bell, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featuring Riley Pinkerton (aka The Rat Queen) from the theatrical NYC rockers, Castle Rat.
listen now