"Merman"

An Enchanted Lullabye

"Merman" was a very rare song that was only available to those who pre-ordered "from the choirgirl hotel" at a Tower Records outlet. If you did so, you would have received a special code and were then able to download it from Atlantic Records' Official Tori Site. Now, the song is a part of a compilation that benefits the Kosovar refugees stuck in the middle of a war, awaiting to return home. And once they do return home, they will need much help in restoring their destroyed villages and lives. This is what the proceeds of the album, No Boundaries, will help with. Tori's "Merman" is toward the end of the compilation (obviously they chose to save the best for one of the last), at track number fourteen. It is an absolutely gorgeous little song, full of luscious vocals and lyrics so beautiful, they bring tears to your eyes. Despite being recorded during the sessions for Tori's fourth solo album, "from the choirgirl hotel," which was Tori's first album cutting tracks with a full band, the song is only Tori's wonderful voice and her dreamy piano. With lines like "go to bed, dream instead," the song, to me, is an enchanted lullabye. Tori has stated that the song was written for her husband and father of their daughter Natashya Lorien, sound engineer Mark Hawley. During a radio interview for WFNX Boston on December 3, 1999, she stated, "This song I did a lot on the [1998] tour in honor of Matthew Shepherd. I had written it for a wonderful, wonderful merman creature in my life who I happen to have married." Matthew Shepherd was a young gay man who suffered an awful death in the hands of prejudice.