Recess! Media

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That’s Pat Dailey with the opening of the title song for a CD called Underwater Land. It’s a collection of poems by the late Shel Silverstein, set to music and sung by Dailey and others, and it’s the kind of upside down, inside out experience that’s perfect for a summer day or evening at the sea shore or by the lake – or for just staring into the nearest aquarium on a rainy August afternoon, when the closest you can get to the world of whales and flounders and snails and cuttlefish is through the thick glass and the powers of the imagination:

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This is Shel Silverstein at his funny, surprising best, splashing us with his brief, quirky fables that remind us, adults and children alike, to think about things from other perspectives. How would we, for instance, like to have Tabasco sauce poured on our back, like the narrator is planning to do to a clam he has found, until the unexpected happens.. And what possible hope do two little minnows have against a devouring shark? Well, Silverstein gives a whole new spin to the importance of becoming part of a school. So take a deep breath, relax, and dive into Underwater Land and let it tickle you with its nimble, many-armed delights.

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