"The oysters were delighted" song lyrics?

February 18, 2016 7:18 AM

Song detectives, can you crack this crazy-tough one? Way back in the early '90s we had a mixtape with a song that included the phrase (we think) "the oysters were delighted!" I think the mixtape's theme was moon-related.

The person who made the mixtape was a record collector known for their great eclectic mixes of unusual stuff from all over the world, that friend who turns you on to secret gems and knows all the cool stuff before it becomes popular.

In my memory, the phrase (or something very like it) was not a part of the verse as much as an aside commentary, but I may be wrong.

That's all I got! But my husband and I have been saying "the oysters were delighted!" for over 20 years, and we would love to solve this mystery.

posted by taz to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

Does this poem ring any bells? It's got a moon angle (sun and moon are both visible) and some oyster emotions but I was poking around to see if the song has been covered by any actual bands (as opposed to this one which was in the movie) and I can't scare it up. There's also this song which is a pretty traditional folk song about oysters and their aphrodisical properties
posted by jessamyn at 7:28 AM on February 18, 2016

Response by poster: I'm pretty sure it didn't reference "The Walrus and the Carpenter," and it definitely wasn't "The Oyster Girl." In my (I stress, very unreliable) memory, it wasn't a folk song, was rather "dreamy," maybe, and I don't remember it as telling much of a story... I feel like it was fairly surreal. (Not that Lewis Carroll isn't!)
posted by taz at 7:59 AM on February 18, 2016

Could it be "The Oyster and the Flying Fish" by Kevin Ayers?
posted by TheCavorter at 8:12 AM on February 18, 2016

It's definitely the right time frame for the Oysterband. Did it sound Celtic at all? Was it a live recording? They do a few moon-related songs including Milford Haven and Finisterre. There's also the band Prarie Oyster, about the right time and they have a song called Man in the Moon but it otherwise doesn't seem right. Was this in the US?
posted by jessamyn at 8:37 AM on February 18, 2016

Response by poster: None of these so far, alas! It didn't sound Celtic, and wasn't a live recording. The guy who made the mixtape was not from the US.
posted by taz at 10:57 AM on February 18, 2016

Song to the Siren

I am as puzzled as the oyster
I am as troubled at the tide
Should I stand amid the breakers?
Or should I lie with death my bride?
posted by svenvog at 12:08 PM on February 18, 2016

Rocklobster? I can't recall if the lyrics have the oysters being delighted, but it has similarly zany asides regarding much sea creature, many bizarreness that (a) it's the sort of thing that a cover of it might do and (b) you might have misrecalled the exact wording.
posted by lollusc at 12:44 PM on February 18, 2016

What about Robyn Hitchcock's If You Were a Priest? There are a few versions without oyster lyrics, but this one has it at 0:51.
posted by dreamphone at 6:27 PM on February 18, 2016

Response by poster: Not Song to the Siren, Rocklobster, or If You Were a Priest; sorry, and thank you for trying!
posted by taz at 7:52 AM on February 19, 2016

The guy who made the mixtape was not from the US.

What country was he from?
posted by jessamyn at 8:20 AM on February 19, 2016

Response by poster: He's from Greece (but it definitely wasn't a Greek song). The lyrics were in English, and I had the impression the band and/or vocalist were probably from a majority English-speaking country.
posted by taz at 9:07 AM on February 19, 2016