Songs with a seagull?

February 12, 2021 10:02 AM

Looking for songs with sea-bird sound effects. So far, I've identified seven. Listed chronologically, (my favorite ordering for a playlist) they are:

the Shangri-Las - Remember (Walkin' in the Sand)
the Small Faces - Lazy Sunday
the Temptations - I Wish It Would Rain
Procol Harum - A Salty Dog
Elton John - Sweet Painted Lady
the Who - Sea and Sand (and maybe others from Quadrophenia)
Split Enz - Late Last Night

posted by Rash to Media & Arts (31 answers total)

Boys of Summer - Don Henley
posted by notsnot at 10:05 AM on February 12, 2021

1000 Hours of Staring has a long ambient track called "Cantankerous Seagull" that definitely has one of those in it on and off for like 20 minutes. Definitely a departure from the others on this list though!
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 10:07 AM on February 12, 2021

I omitted one (because I think the bird is just an electronic sound)

Jean Michel Jarre - Oxygene part 6
posted by Rash at 10:12 AM on February 12, 2021

The Depeche Mode instrumental song Sibeling has a sea bird/ocean effect.
posted by El_Marto at 10:16 AM on February 12, 2021

Perhaps not quite what you're looking for (sound effect is just the singer), but:

Flight of the Conchords — Seagull (lyrics NSFW)
posted by brentajones at 10:19 AM on February 12, 2021

This is probably TOO much what you're looking for, but PJ Harvey has a track called "Seagulls" on Uh Huh Her that is just a minute-plus of seagull sounds.
posted by ejs at 10:21 AM on February 12, 2021

Otis Redding, (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay (birds first audible at start of verse 2, around 0:57)

Does Engelbert Humperdinck singing “caw, caw” count? If so: Engelbert Humperdinck, Lesbian Seagull (this is from a Beavis & Butthead movie) (ETA: Sorry, no, it predates the B&B movie! I had no idea.)
posted by miles per flower at 10:28 AM on February 12, 2021

A Little Voice In Space by tragically underappreciated musician Jackie Leven (briefly before the start of the song after the intro).
posted by Candleman at 10:42 AM on February 12, 2021

Tomorrow Never Knows, by the Beatles
posted by akk2014 at 11:13 AM on February 12, 2021

The seagull in "Tomorrow Never Knows" is supposedly Paul laughing, sped up and backwards.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 11:16 AM on February 12, 2021

The Pet Shop Boys' cover of "Go West."
posted by praemunire at 11:35 AM on February 12, 2021

Kool & The Gang - Cherish
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:38 AM on February 12, 2021

SEAGULLS! (Stop It Now) by Bad Lip Reading has seagull sounds in it. The video is better than the song, but (I think) the song is enjoyable by itself.
posted by China Grover at 12:09 PM on February 12, 2021

The Lonesome Boatman
posted by night_train at 12:21 PM on February 12, 2021

John Fogerty's version of Sea Cruise (1975).
posted by misteraitch at 12:45 PM on February 12, 2021

"Go West" by Pet Shop Boys (be careful, early pressings of the album had like a 15 minute dead space before the hidden track "ecstasy")
posted by evilmonk at 1:21 PM on February 12, 2021

Personally, I think the intro to Burn by The Cure sounds more like gulls than crows, but ymmv.
posted by cobaltnine at 1:34 PM on February 12, 2021

Dream No. 2 by Ken Tobias. A 70s oddity. More gulls on the bridge.
posted by ovvl at 1:49 PM on February 12, 2021

There are some seagull/bird noises in the first couple of mins on Prince's Remix of 'Paisley Park'
posted by mrmarley at 2:03 PM on February 12, 2021

They're in the background, but Marooned by Pink Floyd has seagulls at the beginning.
posted by Gray Duck at 2:23 PM on February 12, 2021

Cantus Arcticus, a “Concerto for Birds and Orchestra” by Einojuhani Rautavaara.
posted by musicinmybrain at 3:11 PM on February 12, 2021

David Essex - Ocean Girl
posted by ITravelMontana at 4:18 PM on February 12, 2021

(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay

You're right! I remembered Otis employing the sound of waves at the beginning and end, but he does in fact have birds in the middle.

Does Engelbert Humperdinck singing “caw, caw” count?

No, miles per flower, certainly not. And praemunire & evilmonk, thanks, that Pet Shop Boys video of "Go West" is the most entertaining thing I've experienced in a while.
posted by Rash at 4:38 PM on February 12, 2021

Not sure if the seagull sounds at the beginning of Weight of Days (by O Positive, one of the most criminally overlooked Boston bands of the 80s) are actual seagulls or guitar effects intended to sound like seagulls. Or seagulls processed to sound like guitar effects that sound like seagulls.
posted by sesquipedalia at 7:02 PM on February 12, 2021

Nick Cave—To Be By Your Side
posted by avocet at 7:44 PM on February 12, 2021

Soul Coughing - Sugar-Free Jazz
posted by transitional procedures at 8:10 PM on February 12, 2021

There is an interlude with sea sounds and seagulls in Grand Funk Railroad I'm Your Captain.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 10:26 PM on February 12, 2021

Came here to recommend A Salty Dog, but you've got it already, so have Pink Floyd's Echoes instead (about 11m40 in, produced by David Gilmour accidentallly plugging his wah pedal in backwards).
posted by offog at 3:45 PM on February 13, 2021

”The Coldest Days of My Life”, by the Chi-Lites (1972?). (Extensively sampled as Quiet Village’s “Victoria’s Secret.”)
posted by en forme de poire at 8:57 AM on February 14, 2021

"Deep End", School of Fish - at the very end.
posted by jocelmeow at 12:35 PM on February 14, 2021

Think there are some in Aha's Manhattan Skyline...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GB2VqeRbng&ab_channel=OHM
posted by low_horrible_immoral at 5:07 AM on February 15, 2021