Our Fave Coney Island Song: Joe McGinty’s Million Dollar Mermaid

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Our Fave Coney Island Song: Joe McGinty’s Million Dollar Mermaid

April 17, 2010 by Tricia

How did we miss this delightful little music video tribute to Coney Island made in June 2007 until today? We’ve fallen under the spell of the quirky arrangement and whimsical lyrics of “Million Dollar Mermaid.”

Make yourself green and wear something scanty
And we’ll make out to the sounds of sea shanties
Screams of the Cyclone, the sweet symphony
Photobooths, bumper cars, sideshows
And you’re here with me….

“Million Dollar Mermaid” is the work of genius keyboardist, composer and arranger Joe McGinty. He wrote the song as an homage to Coney in what was expected to be the last summer of Astroland. “Big changes are in store for Coney Island, and I wanted to capture my favorite memories in song,” McGinty wrote at the time. His cousin Edward McGinty made the beguiling video in which a boy and a girl enjoy a ride spree in Wonder Wheel Park, their grown-up counterparts waltz on the Boardwalk, and McGinty and his band Circuit Parade play “Million Dollar Mermaid.”

The former member of the Psychedelic Furs operates a vintage keyboard studio in Brooklyn and has released original music as part of McGinty and White, Circuit Parade, Baby Steps and Space Nutz. Visit Joe McGinty’s website for more marvelous music.