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January 27, 2021

US Navy band puts sea shanty twist on Taylor Swift's 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together'

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Sea shanties have seemingly taken over TikTok, and the U.S. Navy band recently got in on the craze by giving an early Taylor Swift hit a sea-faring transformation.

PHOTO: Taylor Swift performs onstage as Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, SZA and Becky G perform at The Prime Day concert, presented by Amazon Music at on July 10, 2019 at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Amazon
Taylor Swift performs onstage as Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, SZA and Becky G perform at The Prime Day concert, presented by Amazon Music at on July 10, 2019 at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.

On Monday, the band released a tongue-in-cheek parody of "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," Swift's Grammy-nominated record from 2012's "Red." Theres's even a reference to another Swift song, "I Knew You Were Trouble," off the same album.

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The arrangement features five harmonizing band members accompanied by a violinist and percussionist on what appears to be a djembe -- a West African drum.

Of course, the group fully acknowledges that their version of the Swift song might not be everyone's cup of tea -- or bottle of rum -- when ad-libbing a line that references the viral "Wellerman" shanty made by Scottish musician Nathan Evans.

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Swift's line of "with some indie record that's much cooler than mine" was substituted with "some TikTok video that's much cooler than mine," while showing footage of Evans' now-viral remix.

The band asserted its authority on sea shanties when sharing their latest single by joking on Twitter, "To quote @CHINFO, 'We were very much into this music before it was cool.'"

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The CHINFO account is run by Rear Admiral Charles Brown, the U.S. Navy's public affairs officer, who retweeted the video and praised his fellow sailors for their craftiness.

"This sea shanty parody may VERY MUCH not be your jam... I'm so thankful for the talent, creativity and sense of humor of our @usnavyband," wrote Brown, who linked to the group's official YouTube page "for those who take their sea shanties more seriously."