Okay forgive me but I need to obsess over the sea shanties for a minute.

1. They are an example of how the primary gift of musical ability is not the hope of a bleep bloop sound cloud hit, but being able to bring liveliness to your immediate surroundings.

2. They are an occasion of loveliness, something of which our world does not have enough.

3. The fun of them is earnest. Nice to see people look up from irony posting once in a while to genuinely enjoy something.

4. Something charming about it being a mostly male phenomenon. Cute when the XYs band together in joy and creativity.

5. They evoke ~tradition~. Good to be reminded that we aren’t just grey-faced anons lost to the sea of history but actually the privileged inheritors of a great narrative thread.

6. Everyone can participate on some level. And everyone should participate in music. Even bad singers should sing. It’s good for the soul.