Shark Fin Blues by the Drones – a brutally honest account of depression

The story behind Shark Fin Blues begins with the Drones frontman Gareth Liddiard bored at home, listening to an old banjo song. Liddiard’s mother had just passed away and he would later tell Mess and Noise that it “wasn’t a very good time” in his life.

The Australian musician began to write his own lyrics over the top of Same Old Man by Karen Dalton – itself a 1979 interpretation of Old Man at the Mill – in an old trick musicians use to write their own songs. After nutting out his own chord progression and bringing it to the rest of his band, the song became its own entity.

It became an epochal Drones song, eventually being voted the greatest Australian song of all time by a Triple J poll of more than 70 Australian songwriters.

Shark Fin Blues delves into the darkest corners of the human psyche, where depression, loss and anger lie. It’s a bitter song that typifies Liddiard’s unique approach to music and songwriting and has become an anthem of sorts for the disenfranchised and melancholic.

Released on the Drones’ 2005 album Wait Long By the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By, Shark Fin Blues shows the band at their blistering best. As acoustic versions demonstrate, its strength lies in its emotional lyrics.

The song begins with hazy, distorted guitars floating over restrained drumming. The protagonist is aboard a sinking ship, watching grimly as he descends into the dim depths of depression.

“There ain’t no sunshine way way down” he sings, while the water is riddled with sharks lurking beneath “like slicks of ink”. These sharks act as powerful symbols for impending doom, for loss and self-doubt.

The song builds, gradually, to the most important stanza, expanding and filling with screeching guitars and a contagious chorus of “na na na’s”.

Well you are all my brothers and you have been kind
But what were you expecting to find?
Now your eyes turn inwards, countenance turns blank
And I’m floating away on a barrel of pain
It looks like nothing but the sea and sky remain

Liddiard’s brutal vocals of an out-of-control boat rapidly sinking into shark-infested waters has an ominous feel brought home by the rasping line “We’re gonna be alone from hereon in”. The repetition at the end of “fin by fin by fin by fin” becomes anthemic, backed by a pounding rhythm.

The song shares with its Dalton predecessor the line “I’m floating away on a barrel of pain” which Liddiard said inspired the boat and sea allegory. There is more that Shark Fin Blues shares with Same Old Man – namely jarring instrumentation and unique vocals.

Part of the song’s power is that Liddiard refuses to provide the listener a throwaway silver lining; there’s no uplifting coda claiming everything will be alright. Instead it is a raw and brutally honest account of depression, as Liddiard grits his teeth and sinks into its depths. A song that unflinchingly bares its writer’s despair, detailed in an intimate, introspective way.