Jake Aaron’s “Watery Moon” gives a maritime disaster the shape of a blues tale, complete with a watchman shouting warnings nobody intends to follow. Somebody is playing on a roof, the lover’s light goes out on the coast, and the sailors head towards the rocks. Aaron traces the opening chords back to 1950s doo-wop, an influence that fits the song’s taste for melodrama.
The moon casts spells on sleeping sailors, who wake with stories of visions they cannot explain. Their ship is already sinking at 45 degrees. The watchman’s warning returns, and the repeated fate of those caught in the Watery Moon gives the story its dark humor. Neptune surveys the wreckage from the ocean floor. Harpoons, wonders, and whatever was once inside men’s heads. Neptune has quite a collection down there.
