New Song: Sweet Pajama Shark

Last week a friend suggested I write a song about pajama sharks. To which I quickly replied yelling, “Pajama sharks are not a thing!” And she, being much smarter than me, was quick to point out that they were in fact “a thing”.

So I googled it and turns out Pajama Sharks are a thing.

I did need something to write a song about this week. And pajama sharks seemed like a reasonable thing to write about. The trouble is I’ve already written a ton of songs about animals. I don’t want to be known as the stupid animal song guy. That would be career suicide!

(“Votavaaaaaa! If you play that goddamm panda bear song one more time you will never work in this town again!” said the evil Seattle show promoter.)

If only there was a way to incorporate pajama sharks into a song without making it actually about a pajama shark.

Aha! I think I have found a way!

I’ve been pretty lonely as of late.  I thought that a nice good ol’ fashioned love song might cheer me up. That’s when I wrote “Sweet Pajama Shark”.

In this song,  pajama shark is a silly pet name you might give to that very special person in your life. It’s meant as a fun and endearing way to show affection. I gave this idea a melody and set it to the prettiest chords I could find, and wallaaaahhh…  a Mike Votava love song was born!

The thing about love songs is that I really suck at writing them. When you listen to “Sweet Pajama Shark” you’ll hear the first-line…

“You told me that I was the one bouncing off the moonlight”

…and think to yourself, “Off to a good start so far. Very lovey dubby! Nice job, MJV! I like where you are going with this”.

But then you’ll notice that it quickly goes off the rails by the second line…

“Raindrops keep falling on my butt”

And then the song totally spins out of control with bizarre references to hamburger nights, getting it on, Blueberry Johnson (I love it! I love it! I love it!), and Cart Narcs. In my defense, “narcs” kind of rhymes with “shark” so there!

As I said, I’m not that good at writing love songs. However, I’m glad that I didn’t let that stop me from trying to make one.

I hope you like the song! And remember, you will always be my Sweet Pajama Shark.

Here are a few bonus song nuggets for you.

Bonus Song Nugget #1

I doubled the main vocal part. I don’t typically like this effect because one, it is wildly overused in pop and rock music, and two, I think it can make the singer sound insecure and vulnerable like they have to hide behind two voices.

I used the effect here because feeling “insecure” and “vulnerable” are two traits that I associate with love (because love scares me), and also I wanted to sound pretty like Elliot Smith.

Bonus Song Nugget #2

I borrowed all the chords for “Sweet Pajama Shark” from “Rainbow Connection”. I moved them around a bit, tried to disguise them the best I could, but yeah, thems are the same chords.

This becomes even more apparent in The Remix version, which you can listen to below.

Bonus Song Nugget #3

This isn’t so much a bonus song nugget as it is a complaint. Why is it so fucking hard to watch The State’s Blueberry Johnson sketch on the internet?! Come on, internet! Goddammit!

The End

Sweet Pajama Shark
by Mike Votava

You told me that I was the one bouncing off the moonlight
raindrops keep falling on my butt though you prefer the sunshine

turn off the lights
everything is right
another Hamburger night
let’s get it on
I know that I belong
forever wrapped up in your stripes

there’s no more question marks
sweet pajama shark

there’s no place that I would rather be then swimming in your ocean
I love it and I will repeat
I’m Blueberry Johnson

does that make sense?
no longer on the fence
can you see it in my eyes?
It’s Time for bed
my favorite sleepyhead
forever wrapped up in your stripes

There’s no more question marks
sweet pajama shark
watch out for cart narcs
sweet pajama shark