Under the Water

"Under the Water"
Single by Merril Bainbridge
from the album The Garden
Released 24 July 1995
(see release history)
Format CD
Recorded 001 Studios, Carlton, Victoria, 1995
Genre Pop
Length 4:13
Label Gotham, Universal
Writer(s) Owen Bolwell, Stanley Paulzen
Producer(s) Siew
Certification Platinum (ARIA)
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
Released December 1991
Recorded Whirled Records, Melbourne, 1991
Genre Alternative rock
Length 3:57
Label Manhole Productions
Writer Owen Bolwell, Stanley Paulzen

"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). It was released as the album's second single in July 1995 in Australia and February 1997 in the United States. The song is about a lover who drowned.[1]

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".

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,[2] was produced for the American market. It was released in December 1996 and showed a man and a girl in a room filled with water with the man drowning at the end of the video.

Commercial performance

"Under the Water" had moderate commercial success in Australia. In late July 1995 it debuted at number forty-six on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart.[3] On its fifth week on the chart, it peaked at number four – making the song Bainbridge's second top ten single.[3] 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.[3] It became the twenty-fourth highest selling single in Australia for 1995 selling an estimate of 80,000 copies around Australia.[4][5] The song was nominated for an ARIA Award as the "Highest Selling Single" for 1996, but lost to "Let's Groove" by CDB.[6]

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 in the Billboard Hot 100. It was Bainbridge's last song to date to chart in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

Track listing

Australian CD single
  1. "Under the Water" – 4:16
  2. "Garden in My Room" (demo) – 3:01
  3. "Mouth" (demo) – 3:29
U.S. CD single
  1. "Under the Water"
  2. "Mouth" (alternate take)

Charts

Chart (1995) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart[3] 4
Chart (1997) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[7] 91

Year-End Charts

Chart (1995) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart[4] 24

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

References

  1. ↑ "song meaning". their.aust.com. Archived from the original on 26 May 1997. Retrieved 22 December 2006.
  2. ↑ "Music video director". mvdbase. Retrieved 22 December 2006.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Under the Water - Australian chart run". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 28 October 2008.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "ARIA Charts - End Of Year Charts - Top 50 Singles 1995". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 28 October 2008.
  5. ↑ "The Making of Merril". interview. Archived from the original on 26 May 1997. Retrieved 23 June 2007.
  6. ↑ "1996: 10th Annual ARIA Awards". ARIA Awards. Retrieved 28 October 2008.
  7. ↑ "Merril Bainbridge - Artist Chart History". Allmusic. Retrieved 22 December 2006.

External links