Under the Water

"Under the Water" is a pop song written in 1990 by Owen Bolwell and Stanley Paulzen, produced by Siew for Merril Bainbridge's first album The Garden (1995). The song is about a lover who drowned.[2]

"Under the Water"
Single by Merril Bainbridge
from the album The Garden
Released24 July 1995 (1995-07-24)
Recorded001 Studios, Carlton, Victoria, 1995
GenrePop
Length4:13
LabelGotham, Universal
Songwriter(s)Bainbridge [1]Owen Bolwell, Stanley Paulzen
Producer(s)Siew
Merril Bainbridge singles chronology
"Mouth"
(1994)
"Under the Water"
(1995)
"Power of One"
(1995)
"Marshall"
Song by Tlot Tlot
from the album A Day at the Bay
ReleasedDecember 1991
RecordedWhirled Records, Melbourne, 1991
GenreAlternative rock
Length3:57
LabelManhole Productions
Songwriter(s)Owen Bolwell, Stanley Paulzen

The song was released as the album's second single in July 1995 in Australia and February 1997 in the United States. Although it was successful in Australia, reaching number four on the ARIA Singles Chart, it was a comparative flop in the United States and Canada, peaking at numbers 91 and 72 respectively. At the APRA Music Awards of 1996 it won a trophy for Most Performed Australian Work.[3]

An early version of the song, with Angie Hart and Paulzen on vocals and with different lyrics, appeared on the Tlot Tlot demo tape A Day at the Bay in 1991 as "Marshall".

Commercial performance

"Under the Water" had commercial success in Australia. In late July 1995 it debuted at number forty-six on the ARIA Singles Chart.[4] On its fifth week on the chart, it peaked at number four, making the song Bainbridge's second top-ten single.[4] The song spent a total of sixteen weeks in the top fifty and the Australian Recording Industry Association awarded the single a platinum certification for shipping 70,000 copies.[4][5] It became the twenty-fourth highest selling single in Australia for 1995, selling an estimate of 80,000 copies around Australia.[5][6] The song was nominated for an ARIA Award as the "Highest Selling Single" for 1996 but lost to "Let's Groove" by CDB.[7]

The song was released in the United States on 18 February 1997 but failed to match the top-ten success of "Mouth", peaking at ninety-one and spending only six weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. It was Bainbridge's last song to date to chart on the Hot 100.

Music video

There were two music videos produced to promote the song, the first one for Australia and a second version for the United States. The original Australian version was a simple black and white video with Bainbridge walking around a forest and performing the song with a band. However, when Bainbridge broke in the U.S. with her previous single "Mouth", a sleeker video, directed by Martin Kahan,[8] was produced for the American market. It was released in December 1996 and showed a man and a woman in a room filled with water.

Track listing

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[5] Platinum 80,000[6]

^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history

Country Date Label Format Catalog
Australia 24 July 1995 Gotham Records CD GOTH95052
United States 18 February 1997 Universal Records CD, CS 56112
gollark: All voting systems do run into some weirdness as far as I know, though, there are theorems about it...
gollark: Although somewhat more susceptible to tactical voting, I think.
gollark: I've heard good things about approval voting and score voting, which have the advantage of being very simple.
gollark: Yes, that is a problem.
gollark: Also, you can't actually convey much information through voting; there are probably, what, four choices at most, two of which are remotely serious. That's *one bit*.

References

  1. http://apraamcos.com.au/search?searchtype=works&keywords=merril+bainbridge&x=29&y=37
  2. "song meaning". their.aust.com. Archived from the original on 26 May 1997. Retrieved 22 December 2006.
  3. "1996 Winners – APRA Music Awards". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) | Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS). Archived from the original on 18 September 2009. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
  4. "Australian-charts.com – Merril Bainbridge – Under the Water". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  5. "1995 ARIA Singles Chart". ARIA. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  6. "The Making of Merril". interview. Archived from the original on 26 May 1997. Retrieved 23 June 2007.
  7. "1996: 10th Annual ARIA Awards". ARIA Awards. Retrieved 28 October 2008.
  8. "Music video director". mvdbase. Retrieved 22 December 2006.
  9. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 3161." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  10. "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 3177." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
  11. "Merril Bainbridge Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
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